One-of-a-Kind Rooflines

Perched above a pond on 14 acres in Champaign, Illinois, this hut was designed for enjoying tea and meditation. Dominating the 97-square-foot structure is a butterfly roof, which channels rainwater to a central spout to be directed to the pond. Adding to the zen experience are water reflections that are projected onto the soffit throughout the day.

After a 40-year-old pine tree fell over on a Brentwood estate in Los Angeles, the owner let it lie, and the continued to grow from its newfound horizontal position. He decided to incorporate it into a 172-square-foot office and guest house with the structure floating above the tree. Around the perimeter of the butterfly roof is a clerestory that gives the illusion that the roof is floating.

The deck, fashioned from ipe, was built around one of the property’s many granite outcroppings. An earthen roof was planted with the same varieties of sedum that were added to the front of the cottage. Photo by: Mark Mahaney

A steep drop breaks this roofline's linearity at a family-oriented home in Syndey.

Carpenter poses outside his house, which is shoehorned into a tiny nonconforming lot among a block’s worth of older row houses and a derelict public park.

Architect José Roberto Paredes’s crowning achievement is the freestanding concrete roof that wraps around the structure.