butterfly-roof 'wedge house' by schema is located in a piny area in greece

the ‘wedge house’ designed by schema architecture and engineering is a custom-built single family home located in the northern suburbs of athens, in the mountainous and full of pine trees area named drafi. the site with almost 20-meter-height-difference terrain was a challenging one, but the architects tamed the landscape and designed a modern butterfly-roof house.

the house blends with its natural environment

‘our design concentrated on creating a house that blends with its natural environment sustaining most of the existing pine trees,’ says schema team. this idea unavoidably led to a split-level house, accommodating the steepness and the fluctuations of the topology. two distinct blocks, facing north and west, sit on different levels and come together in the middle with a wedge-shaped volume that forms the entrance and the vertical circulation leading to the main spaces of the house.

the house was situated on the mild inclined surface that appeared in the middle of the site

the entrance emerges in a tight exterior passage that opens up to the whole interior, surprising the visitor with the house’s unpredictable nine-meter-heigh interior. both block facades completely open up through large glazing surfaces to the view of the pines and the hills beyond, concealing the boundary between the interior of the house and its surroundings. the composite structure allows all finishes to appear in their natural state.

the site’s steepness led to an entrance and a car garage sitting on the first floor right above the living spaces

the basic four walls are covered in stone, to seem as they are coming through the earth, connected to the exposed wooden roof only through a series of triangular aluminum windows. a butterfly roof, which reverses the conventional icon of the pitched roof house, lets natural light to enter through those high windows on the back side of the building. the wedge permeates the roof as well, creating a skylight right above the metal stairway that leads down to the living room, kitchen and dining room, all based on the ground floor of the block facing north.

a butterfly roof reverses the conventional icon of the pitched roof house

the three bedrooms only accessed through the wedge are situated on the block facing west. due to the site’s steepness, the car garage stands next to the main entrance, right above the living spaces. at the lower edge of the site, beyond the road, there is a small canyon and a narrow stream coming through.

the facades open up to the view of the pines

the walls are coveredwithn stone

the natural light floods the space throughout the day

the finishes that appear in their natural state give warmth to the house

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edited by: maria erman | designboom