The Villa in the Bergisches Land is one of the early works of young architect Martin Wendling. Commissioned as a representative yet timeless single-family home with country house appeal, it was completed in 2019 and has since added a stately presence to the townscape of Bergisch Gladbach. A two-story portico structures the symmetrical layout behind a broad perimeter wall. Shielded from view, the rear of the home opens up to sweeping vistas over the Cologne lowlands.
“I see myself as carrying forward traditional principles and enduring materials, without losing sight of the contemporary. I aim to create cohesive relationships so that a place feels alive, rather than like an assembly of alien fragments.”
With the Villa in the Bergisches Land, Martin Wendling created a residential property that defies convention. The clients, returning to their hometown, envisioned a home that would be both timeless and stately. Wendling learned of their former life in a traditional country house and incorporated that typology into his design. The solid and sustainable construction methods associated with rural estates became the foundation for his modern interpretation.
Wendling also carefully considered the surrounding context: gabled houses, street-facing enclosures, and a regional affinity for plaster façades and natural stone. His design responds directly to these conditions. Positioned on a slope, the villa stretches across almost the entire width of the plot. Toward the street, it presents a formal forecourt, enclosed by a wide perimeter wall that defines the private domain.
Wendling developed a central spatial sequence of exterior and interior zones, each with its own atmosphere and character. Generous openings—including two gateway entrances to the forecourt and double-leaf glass doors in the living room—create visual and physical connections between inside and out. The sequence begins at the threshold between public street and private living space, evolving along a central axis that leads from semipublic zones into increasingly intimate areas oriented toward the garden and upper floor.
A higher-lying street leads toward the home, where two driveway gates and a centrally located pedestrian gate grant access to the forecourt. A flight of steps leads to the house itself. The two-story portico—a columned, open-air vestibule—forms the architectural transition from exterior to interior, from town to home. Inside, a generous entryway welcomes guests and connects to all main living areas. Through large, double-leaf doors, the living room is revealed at the heart of the house—a space designed for social gatherings. It extends seamlessly to a partially covered terrace, spanning the full width of the building and leading out into the garden. Elevated on a plateau, the terrace offers sweeping views over the garden and the Cologne plain.
The interior is defined by clean lines, large subdivided windows, and lofty ceilings. Only the winding staircase—extending across two floors—interrupts this geometry. It forms elongated, gallery-like corridors that serve as access points to the rooms and lend a sense of lightness to the space. White walls paired with oak plank flooring give the home a refined and timeless character. The walls, made of smoothed lime plaster, are part of a broader sustainable building concept, which also includes the mineral-based façade structure and exterior plasterwork.
For the Villa in the Bergisches Land, Wendling specified door and window hardware from the FSB 1003 series. He took a deliberate approach, exploring FSB’s broad product families to find fittings that aligned with his architectural language. His goal was hardware that would blend in subtly and harmoniously with the overall concept. The result: handles from the FSB 1003 range, whose rectilinear form echoes the horizontal, rectangular footprint of the house.
The entrance door handle, with its rectangular grip and square rose, complements the home’s linear design perfectly. For the surface finish, Wendling selected aluminum—neutral in appearance and ideally suited to active use. The aluminum handles are built to endure. After all, the full-width garden terrace is sure to see frequent use on mild evenings following festive gatherings and elegant soirées.
