A recreational mountain chalet for winter
skiing and summer walks.
Chandolin, Switzerland.
Project: The design and construction of a wooden chalet on a steep, field site, on the edge of a mountain village with stringent design rules governing plan proportion, elevational treatment, and roof form.
Brief: A chalet for both family use and for seasonal letting, a kitchen for more than one user, dining for up to twelve, social seating, with a separate social area for children, tv, or extended sleeping, two bedrooms, and a plan designed for the expected future extension of the chalet.
Response: The proximity to the tree line and the steep slope of the mountainside lead the design of plan and section. The concrete lower floor cut deep into the slope, and housed the bedrooms, bathroom and services. The last of the descending 132 steps arrived at the main entrance to the chalet at its raised ground floor, the boot room opening on to the principal space with expansive windows opening onto the high body of the pines meters away, pines that when illuminated brightly at night, laden with snow, provided the reflected shadow of their light to the interior, to be greeted by the flames of the stove. This double height space, open to the roof, is overlooked by a deep mezzanine with broad lounge seating and a glass balustrade to below. All is wood, simple and clean, cut branches are details, a heated tile floor with thrown rugs and cushioned seating, the carcass of a tormented fallen tree, carried upon my back from higher in the mountain, decorates the high wall. The mountains and the stark light are all exposure; the close pines and the cedar cradle of the interior are all embrace.
The two exterior doors to the far side of the chalet entrance are the extended circulation routes to a designed extension should it ever appear.
Chandolin, Switzerland.
Project: The design and construction of a wooden chalet on a steep, field site, on the edge of a mountain village with stringent design rules governing plan proportion, elevational treatment, and roof form.
Brief: A chalet for both family use and for seasonal letting, a kitchen for more than one user, dining for up to twelve, social seating, with a separate social area for children, tv, or extended sleeping, two bedrooms, and a plan designed for the expected future extension of the chalet.
Response: The proximity to the tree line and the steep slope of the mountainside lead the design of plan and section. The concrete lower floor cut deep into the slope, and housed the bedrooms, bathroom and services. The last of the descending 132 steps arrived at the main entrance to the chalet at its raised ground floor, the boot room opening on to the principal space with expansive windows opening onto the high body of the pines meters away, pines that when illuminated brightly at night, laden with snow, provided the reflected shadow of their light to the interior, to be greeted by the flames of the stove. This double height space, open to the roof, is overlooked by a deep mezzanine with broad lounge seating and a glass balustrade to below. All is wood, simple and clean, cut branches are details, a heated tile floor with thrown rugs and cushioned seating, the carcass of a tormented fallen tree, carried upon my back from higher in the mountain, decorates the high wall. The mountains and the stark light are all exposure; the close pines and the cedar cradle of the interior are all embrace.
The two exterior doors to the far side of the chalet entrance are the extended circulation routes to a designed extension should it ever appear.
