"The Butterfly", an office building in Athens owned by Noval S.A., is a composition of old and new parts, which now form a single compound with particular characteristics. This compound is being defined by contemporary qualities of city planning, bioclimatic design, and aesthetics. 

 

The company YAP Architects has designed an emblematic façade which is characterised by its contemporary and simple design while providing the building with protection against the sun. The architectural plan is structured around a cross and is based on the plan view of the surrounding area conferring to the building the butterfly form after which it was named. The bioclimatic dimension, in terms of both passive and active systems, has helped the building obtain a Gold certification under the LEED rating system.

 

Close collaboration by Elval Colour with the architects and the subsequent technical controls carried out throughout the construction by the company’s engineers have ensured that the façade was manufactured and installed in line with the specifications, ultimately guaranteeing its aesthetic and structural integrity for many years to come.

 

 

 

The main challenge was to achieve protection of the interior of the building against the sun, whereas the conception required an elegant and plain façade with as few materials as possible, and this is why Elval Colour’s fire-retardant aluminium composite panels etalbond® FR, in tints of Pure White and Grey Metallic, were selected in order to be installed on the building’s envelope in vertical slats of sunshades. 

 

 

 

The building’s envelope comprises a glazing system suspended on the outer part. A shade screen is installed at a certain distance from the glazing system allowing to manage the incidence of sun rays without impeding the view to the external environment from the interior of the building. It is made of a metallic infrastructure projecting in the form of a cantilever from the building’s body. 

 

Agapanthus, rosemary and feathergrass emerge from the metal floor of the cantilever and a series of vertical specially designed shutters of etalbond® FR aluminium composite panels provide shade to the building, in selected parts, protecting it from solar radiation during the morning and afternoon hours. The panels form an undulated succession which becomes denser or sparser depending on the shading needs arising from the sun’s movement. Thus, they form an envelope of elements which rise in response to the environmental conditions. Such vertical elements together with the horizontal zones of the stories represent the minimum architectural materials of an austere and plain composition of the building’s façades that keep on changing with the light of daytime. Furthermore, they have been designed in a special asymmetric trapezoid form so as to better reflect the light, creating colour nuances that resemble folds. 

 

Elval Colour is always seeking to achieve the highest quality for its products aiming at providing excellent services to its customers. Committed to respect the needs of this building, it remained faithful to its values, helping with the proper selection and application of products.