By Emma Bird
Modern villas are unusual on Lake Maggiore, where the market is dominated by older houses and Liberty-era facades. One exception is Pinwheel, a contemporary timber house on the Swiss-Italian border named for its bladelike walls that push outwards to capture the surrounding views.
The prefabricated home above Luino was designed by Milan architect Jacopo Mascheroni, who drew inspiration from the smooth geometry of a white pebble on the landscape. “It was essential that each room had its own outlook,” he says. “From the kitchen you see the lake, from the study the garden, and from the living area the horizon. We wanted every space to have its own relationship with the landscape.” These shifting perspectives reinforce the sense that the house turns like a pinwheel across its site.
Mascheroni set the single-storey residence at the highest, flattest point of the sloping plot so it could sit comfortably within the existing vegetation and preserve the site’s natural character. The pentagonal design runs concentrically around a circular staircase beneath a dramatic skylight that pulls daylight through the plan and down to the basement.
This lower level houses a utility room and storage space, together with a large, versatile free area that could become a gym or media room. By channelling light down the stairwell, the spaces below ground feel like part of the house rather than an afterthought.
The skylight is more than functional: it transforms the interiors of the villa, which is now on the market for €995,000.
Patterns of light shift across the walls as the day advances, changing again with the seasons. In summer, the surrounding oak trees throw shade and dappled shadows inside; in winter, their bare branches allow the low sun to flood the rooms.
On the ground floor an open-plan living room, kitchen and dining area unfurl around the staircase, while two bedrooms and two bathrooms are tucked discreetly behind semi-transparent pods at the rear of the home. Both the study and living area have large glass sliding doors to seamlessly connect the inside to the outside.
Although stark in geometry, Pinwheel was designed with comfort in mind. White walls and pale resin floors form a neutral backdrop that allows light and shadow to animate the surfaces, while bespoke white furniture in the kitchen follows the building’s curves precisely. Attention to acoustics and lighting design prevents sterility, with warm artificial light creating a cosy atmosphere at night.
Constructed from prefabricated timber sections manufactured in Slovenia and assembled on site like Lego, Pinwheel demanded extreme precision. “With the curved edges, we needed accuracy to the millimetre,” Mascheroni says. Externally, prefabricated concrete panels and aluminium fins form a ventilated facade designed for low maintenance, while the flat roof is finished in gravel to further reduce upkeep.
Ecological performance was key to the design. Pinwheel has no gas connection, relying instead on a heat pump. Its shell is heavily insulated, allowing the building to be fully warmed from scratch in about 12 hours — a practical consideration for use as a weekend retreat. The advanced climate system, which combines underfloor heating, air conditioning and controlled ventilation, ensures year-round comfort with minimal operational costs. Photovoltaic panels can be added to bring the building close to zero-energy use.
Mascheroni argues that sustainability must be integral, not bolted on. “Too often it is treated as an afterthought,” he says. “For us, architectural clarity and ecological performance must reinforce each other.” He sees sustainability as a question of endurance as much as of technology. “Timelessness is the ultimate form of sustainability. If a house is demolished in 10 years, nothing about it was truly sustainable.”
Photography: Sotheby’s
