The “Anti-Idyllic Suite,” the latest installment of their Null Stern hotel chain, is located just off the freeway in the Saillon region of French-speaking Switzerland. Situated in the corner of a gas station parking lot, the “room” consists of a high-end queen-size bed atop a raised platform, flanked by mounted nightstands. Besides a half-wall behind the bed’s headboard, there are no true walls and no ceiling. Guests can watch customers fill their tanks, listen to the rush of freeway traffic, and be lulled to sleep with the smell of gasoline wafting through the air, all for 325 Swiss francs (roughly $340) a night.

Why would anyone want to rent this hotel room? The whole point is that they wouldn’t. “Rather than a place of rest, this new version aims to keep you awake and offers a place of reflection on current affairs such as the climate, the economy, security, or equality,” the Riklin brothers explain on their website. “In view of the current world situation, there is no time to sleep,” they add.

The duo, who partnered with hotelier Daniel Charbonnier to produce the Anti-Idyllic Suite, encourage individuals, companies, schools, and associations to use the space “to exchange, brainstorm, or create ideas.” Former iterations of the Null Stern Zero Real Estate suites feature the same wall-less rooms but actually are located in picturesque locations.

The Vineyard Suite sits on a small road in a valley of grapevines, with a magical view of a nearby medieval village and the tower of Saillon. The 13,000-foot-tall Bietschorn mountain forms the backdrop for this room.

The Farinet Room is placed on a mystical hill in the same region called Colline Ardente, which also shares a home with the smallest registered vineyard in the world, with just three vines. While it was originally owned by a French actor, it changed hands to Abbé-Pierre, a World War II French resistance fighter and Catholic priest. He in turn gifted it to the Dalaï Lama, who still owns the deed today. This Null Star spot has become something of a pilgrimage spot for global travelers.

The Bayart Suite is named after the 13th-century tower located on the same hill. With the Ardévaz mountain in the background and vistas of the Rhône Valley all around, it’s secluded while still providing amenities within walking distance.

While they’re not four-star hotels (the company website boasts that “the only star is you”), each Zero Real Estate booking comes with “a welcome drink with local organic finger food, breakfast pastry from a local bakery with fresh fruit juice from the region, as well as the service of a Modern Butler.” More importantly, each includes a reservation at the nearby Hôtel des Bains de Saillon in case of bad weather.

The suites, including the Anti-Idyllic Suite, are only open from July to September for that reason. Reservations can be made on their website, although rumor has it that there’s currently a 6,000-person waitlist.

The post Wall-less Swiss Hotel Lets You Sleep in Anti-Luxury for $340 a Night first appeared on Dornob.

Located adjacent to the original Audemars Piguet watch workshop where founders Jules Louis Audemars and Edward Auguste Piguet began their business in 1875, the new facility offers exhibition, workshop, and archive space for the brand. The interior rooms are divided by glass walls so daylight can penetrate all the way through its partially subterranean interiors.

The structure is part of a larger renovation of that preexisting building, which itself is set to become a hotel. The architects excavated the hillside to insert the spiraling museum and backfilled it to make it seem like a natural extension of the earth, puncturing it with large skylights on three sides. The green roof of the building is also a walkable ramp, allowing visitors to explore the entire property from an unusual vantage point.

The shape, naturally, is inspired by the tiny spiraling springs found inside watches that conduct energy from the battery. Each level of the outer glass walls is equipped with a honeycomb-shaped shade screen to help regulate interior temperatures, but of course, the earth-sheltered nature of the building helps, too.

“Musée Atelier Audemars Piguet will be located among the historical complex of workshops and factories in Le Brassus in the heart of La Vallée de Joux,” BIG explains. “Its organization and architecture will embody the core values of Audemars Piguet. It must be characterized by the independent spirit of the family-owned company that has retained autonomy over the years, making it a game-changing innovator in a field governed by rules and traditions.”

“It must be rooted in the heritage of watchmaking in La Vallée de Joux, which goes back centuries and is nested in the nature and culture of the place and the people of the valley. And finally, it must incorporate the inner tension that characterizes Audemars Piguet and resonates throughout the brand, the craft, and the designs as captured in the motto: to break the rules you must first master them.”

“In watchmaking, a lot of the disciplines are what you could call getting the maximum amount of impact with a minimum amount of material,” says BIG principal and founder Bjarke Ingels. “The idea is similar to this structure, and how the glass carries the entire roof over our heads…the museum is almost like an open work. Nothing is hidden, all the elements that you see are performing and part of the narrative, gently curving concentric circles.”

Once complete sometime this summer, the 75,350-square-foot Hôtel des Horlogers will give guests the chance to peer into the workshop. Guest rooms are directly accessible from any of five zig-zagging slabs creating an exterior path along the front facade in a reference to nearby ski trails. The hotel will also include a conference center, bar, and spa.

The post BIG Completes Spiraling, Grassy Museum in Switzerland first appeared on Dornob.

Zermatt Matterhorn, a travel information website centered around tourism within Switzerland’s most iconic mountain village, has spent their time in quarantine finding ways to inspire hope.

Beginning March 24th and continuing through April 26th, 2020, the organization blasted messages to the top of the highest peak, the famous 14,692-Matterhorn Mountain in the Swiss Alps. These projections occurred every evening over the five-week period, with over 80 symbols and words lighting up the alpine peak. The campaign’s goal was to unite the people of the planet in an understanding that we’re all in this together, and to provide hope that with unity we will stand strong in the end.

Symbols included a heart, praying hands, musical symbols, a candle, and the Earth itself. Word art also appeared, such as “#Hope,” “#AllofUs,” “Dream now, travel later,” and the final thank you message “#Grazie.” The flags of many countries were also illuminated in a sign of solidarity. From nearby locations in Europe like Germany, Sweden, and the Netherlands to far-off lands in South Africa, across the Middle East, and Asia, the flags appeared on the top of the mountain as a message that Switzerland supports the global community in their battles against the virus.

On April 16th, when the United States flag appeared on the peak, Zermatt Matterhorn posted the following message on its Facebook page:

“Our thoughts are with all American people at this unprecedented time. We look forward to meeting again at the foot of the Matterhorn, we are all in this together.”

The next day, Jacque Pitteloud, the Swiss ambassador to the U.S., posted a picture of the projection on Twitter and wrote: “Magnificent! Last night, #Switzerland sent a message of #hope and solidarity to the U.S. by projecting the American flag onto the peak of the iconic #Swiss mountain, the Matterhorn.”

To implement the lighting, Zermatt Matterhorn reached out to acclaimed light artist Gerry Hofstetter, whose work has transformed buildings, monuments, landscapes, and mountains into temporary art objects since 1999.

According to the Zermatt Matterhorn website, the messages were overwhelmingly well-received, with social media postings from leaders around the world reaching up to 700 million people and netting millions of likes.

There are always a few naysayers, of course, but in this case it appears the low-level grumblings came from local citizens who complained about light pollution and appeals to avoid mass-marketing the fragile landscape of the mountain. In response, the Zermatt team and local authorities offered assurance that the light show was a limited time event meant to promote hope and solidarity during an extraordinary time, and that while it would undoubtedly promote tourism to the area, they were well aware of the “beauty and fragility” and would continue to prioritize the protection of nature above all else in the future.

All images courtesy of Frank Schwarzbach

The post Projections of Solidarity Light Up the Matterhorn in Wake of COVID-19 first appeared on Dornob.

Remarkably, corten steel holds up to even the most rugged and punishing environments, including rain, snow, ice, and fog. Its vivid orange hue contrasts beautifully with the greenery of many landscapes and harmonizes with the umber tones of deserts. It’s particularly well-suited to simple, geometric building shapes, so it’s no surprise that it pops up often in modern architecture.

US-based architecture firm Axis Mundi has envisioned a visually spectacular use for it in one of the world’s most dramatic landscapes. Set high up in the Swiss Alps, “XYZ House” consists of three long, skinny rectangular volumes stacked against each other to create one of the most unusual house shapes you’ve ever seen.

Measuring about 4,000 square feet, the house has a steel and concrete inner frame finished off with corten steel and glass.

The firm explains that the home’s “cruciform-ike assemblage contains three bold architectural volumes clad in corten steel,” adding that “conceptually the project is organized by three mutually perpendicular planes (the three Cartesian coordinates of x, y, and z): an entry tunnel/bridge, a tower which contains the vertical circulation (staircase and elevator), and the main habitable space, which is suspended weightlessly above the valley below.”

“In essence, this is a dwelling meaningfully stripped of all nostalgia from the material world. One is immediately reminded of the great German romantic poets and painters like Caspar David Friedrich and the poet Heinrich Heine, who’s work emphasized the tension between the daily world and the irrational and supernatural projections of creative genius. The project is a ruin from the future and its poetic power lies in its supreme muteness, as a place to contemplate the horizon and eternity in silence.”

As you can see, lead architect John Beckmann’s description of it as a “ruin from the future” is fitting. Its starkness against the mountain scenery, with no other structures in sight, conjures the feeling of coming across something from another time in an unexpected place.

It may seem like oddly shaped structures like XYZ House are unrealistic and unlikely to ever be built, but you might be surprised by some of the incredible modern structures that can be found in similar places. Mohr Life Resort’s new wellness area in Tirol, Austria by local architecture practice noa* is one recent example, and a vision for the Nemrut Caldera Observation Route in Turkey uses corten steel to a similar effect.

Interested in seeing how corten steel holds up in real-life projects? Check out the “Site Shack” portable prefab office by Powers Construction, which is designed to hold up to the rigors of construction sites, and a Washington State cabin sheathed in corten steel shingles.

The post Cantilevered Corten Steel XYZ House Looks Out on Scenic Swiss Alps first appeared on Dornob.

Three new computationally designed timber walls at the Basler & Hofmann cafeteria in Esslingen, Switzerland display one aspect of Gramazio & Kohler’s innovative touch to dazzling effect. The walls aren’t just decorative. They’re intended to improve the acoustics of the room while also functioning as air ducts for a ventilation system integrated into the walls.

The way in which they were made is a fascinating evolution of traditional carpentry. The 8,500 individual modules are identical angle-cut fir wood blocks, but each one is set at a slightly different angle as determined by a computer, creating a pattern of shadow and light that changes throughout the day. Carpenters are then equipped with custom-built camera controller units in order to place the blocks as directed, with an augmented reality monitor prompting them to turn the blocks until they’re in exactly the right position.

The architects explain why the digital assembly of their “Sequential Roof” project at the Arch-Tec-Lab of the Institute of Technology in Architecture (ITA) in Zurich is unusual: “The structure consists of 168 single trusses — which are woven into a 2,308-square-meter free-form roof design. As such, an integrated digital planning process connects design, structural analysis, and the generation of fabrication data.”

“Based on this data, a robot-based assembly process of 48,624 timber slats to individually formed trussed beams allows an efficient fabrication of the complex roof geometry. The project demonstrates the potential of combining digital fabrication technology with timber as a local and sustainable building material. In collaboration with experts from academia and practice, the Chair’s research results in the field of digital timber construction are being condensed and applied at full architectural scale.”

Have you ever seen bricks used quite like this? The new front facade for the headquarters of brick manufacturer is a freestanding, self-supporting structure set in front of the actual steel and glass front. All of the bricks are positioned and glued into place by a robot in a manufacturing process called ROBmade. “The slight rotation of the bricks generates a vivid image of light and shadow and enhances the volumetric reading of the diagrid,” explain the creators.

Another project, the Rock Print Pavilion, is a house made of loose aggregate and twine assembled by a robot. Of it, the lab says: “Right in the historic heart of the city, newly developed robotic processes combine these ordinary items into a highly resilient material system without the use of tools. They thus provide a first look at some of the astonishing designs that rapid developments in digitalization are making possible in architecture and the environment.”

Gramazio & Kohler also helped produce the world’s first inhabited house that was both digitally planned and built primarily using robots and 3D printers. Created in collaboration with other ETH Zurich professors and industry experts, the DFAB House aims to model how digital fabrication processes might revolutionize the way we design and build architecture in the near future.

The post An Architectural Robotic Laboratory Explores the Power of Mathematical Patterns first appeared on Dornob.

While some brands work to find ever more irritating ways to get through to their target audiences, others are growing savvy to the fact that if you want to reach people, entice them to buy your products, and build trust in your brand, you have to actually provide them with something useful.

Swiss running brand On demonstrates one way to do that with the “On Mountain Hut,” a beautiful reflective cabin set high up in the Alps on the Piz Lunghin. The project marks the launch of the brand’s latest collection, including its first hiking shoe, but it’s also designed to offer a little something special to runners and hikers in the area.

Swiss alpine huts are a centuries-old tradition, and while some can be rented and reserved ahead of time, others are first-come, first-serve and free to anyone who may come along.

The company explains: “For us, the mountains are a source of energy, ideas, and innovation. They have the power to invigorate and provide fresh perspective. In fact, the first ever On business plan was put together by our three co-founders while hiking in Engadin. You might say that if it wasn’t for these mountains, On wouldn’t exist. Literally, they are our source.”

“Since then, they have continued to play a pivotal role in our development; shaping our technology, our products, and our ethos. And why not? Overcoming mountains demands serious research, planning, perseverance, and commitment. You have to do things right; there are no shortcuts. We are proud to champion the same approach with our innovations.”

On’s designers say they wanted to “go back to the source” of their inspiration to celebrate the release of the Cloudrock waterproof hiking shoe. Their intention is to celebrate the beauty of the Engadin Valley while also offering a peaceful place to rest for everyone who passes by.

Inside the minimal mountain cabin, which is only accessible by foot, is a simple plywood-clad interior with built-in tables and seating, a wood stove and kettle for heating up simple meals, picture windows overlooking the incredible views, and even a lofted bed.

There’s room for two people to relax inside the self-sustainable cabin, which is powered by solar panels and features a rooftop rain collector that filters rainwater for use inside. You might expect to see references to the shoe and other products by On plastered all over every surface, but the brand keeps it simple and subtle with just a single logo on the exterior.

Minimalist and modular, the off-grid refuge is made almost entirely of local wood and designed to disassemble easily so it can be removed at a later date, giving it a light footprint on the land.

Whether adventurers set out to find the cabin or happen upon it by accident, chances are they’ll remember the hospitality it provides and associate that feeling with the brand well into the future.

The post Mirrored Off-Grid Mountain Hut Overlooks the Swiss Alps first appeared on Dornob.

Walk around any major city today, and you’re likely to see massive concrete buildings that take up entire city blocks, with interiors full of condominiums that rent or sell for well above average. Natural light, open floor plans, and balconies are no longer accessible to just any urbanite, let alone polished modern concrete surfaces and floor-to-ceiling glazing.

Swiss architect Gus Wüstemann doesn’t think it should be that way, even in one of the most expensive cities in the world. Not only is his “Affordable Housing Langgrüstrasse” building more interesting and sculptural than the common urban condominium, it also offers spacious apartments for rents that are among the cheapest you can find in Zurich.

Commissioned by the Baechi Foundation, the project features nine apartments set within the outer green belt of Albisrieden, drawing inspiration from the simple linear buildings of the 1950s with generously sized gardens. The foundation wanted the condo to offer the highest-possible quality of life at the lowest price, with access to nature, plenty of daylight, privacy, and interiors that didn’t feel cramped.

They explain: “The project Langgrütstrasse 107 should prove that by targeting interventions in light and space and at the same time reducing common standards, great and lively spaces are possible…without any additional economical effort. In today’s world, it takes a rethink. Sustainability in the sense of less for the individual, but more for the community is becoming increasingly important. In [both its] architecture [and] housing construction, we show how the shift of the focus away from connotations and standards to space, momentum, and room quality makes this possible. These are four two-bedroom apartments (60 square meters) and five three-bedroom apartments (95 square meters).”

“Morphologically it is a solid concrete block, organically formed, from which two courtyards were cut out. In these courtyards, the living spaces float like bridges, from the morning sun to the evening sun. A continuous space that topographically creates the feeling that the living space is an exterior space, and not an interior space filled up with housing program. This results in an incredible moment of magnitude in a small space. Hence there is a generous open living space, which can be enlarged to the periphery of the balconies and sheltered by the famous wooden persianas [window blinds] from Barcelona.”

The architects add: “[We] economically optimized interventions by reducing all the technical installations of the building to a minimum. In Swiss standards, we focus on a couple of interventions that add major value to the quality of the living space. These are sliding windows and a built-in bench, [which act as] communicative elements of the concrete topography.”

Ultimately, the apartments feel far more modern and luxurious than you’d expect to find at such an affordable price, achieving the architecture firm’s stated goal of creating spaces that are truly “free of social status or connotation.”

The post New Brutalism: Budget Apartment Building Made of Concrete first appeared on Dornob.

Nations that set a good example for their citizens and other nations with respect to sustainable living should be admired and learned from. Too often, world superpowers set bad examples. To make up for their government’s reckless attitudes, states, provinces, regions, cities, and even individual citizens proactively take steps towards a greener future. In Switzerland, however, such progressive developments are coming from the top.

On top of the Empa and Eawag Next Evolution in Sustainable Building Technologies complex in Dübendorf sits the DFAB House. Completed in 2017, this 2,153 square-foot, three-story home was designed by a team of eight researchers at the ETH Zurich as part of the country’s National Centre of Competence in Research Digital Fabrication initiative. The purpose of the DFAB House was to show how 3D printing and robotics could be efficiently used to build sustainable housing.

With floor slabs formed using 3D-printed sand and timber frames assembled by robots, the DFAB House is a glowing example of smart design and construction. It was all assembled on-site by an adaptable robotic system created by the researchers. Fittingly enough, visiting academics will be the house’s main residents beginning this spring.

Above all else, it’s the home’s energy management system — which controls potable water, drainage, heating, and cooling — that make it so eco-friendly. Powered by photovoltaic modules on the roof, this system reuses all the home’s waste water and stores heat for later use, making it the world’s first fully functional house to be both digitally planned and robotically constructed. Of course, many humans were still required to help move the construction process along, as seen in the video just below, so the project can’t really be said to be completely built by robots.

Part of the reason for all the human involvement is that the construction industry is simply slow to change. Despite the technologies available to build everything efficiently, many builders are wary of taking such a risk. The same could be said for architects, in that each firm has a preference for a specific software on the market. There are some who will stick with AutoCAD because they do not trust Revit — not to mention the small number of firms who use Vectorworks. The whole process of producing a building can take many forms based on the software chosen, but once designs become concrete construction plans, the process falls back on test methods that produce predictable results on reasonable timelines. With the DFAB House, the researchers at ETH Zurich are hoping that more of the world’s great builders will start putting a little more faith in modern technology.

“The architectural potential of digital fabrication technologies is immense,” says Matthias Kohler, a professor of Architecture and Digital Fabrication at ETH. “Unfortunately, these technologies are still scarcely used on construction sites. With the DFAB House, we are able to test new technologies hand-in-hand with industry and thus accelerate the transfer from research to practice.”

Nothing happens before its time. Though entrepreneurs and researchers are constantly inventing new technologies for the construction industry, builders will eventually appreciate the value they add to their projects. The transfer from hand drawing to CAD did not happen quickly, after all. It took several years, but eventually everyone accepted it as the way architecture would be done going forward. And we’re just about due for another game-changer like that.

The post DFAB House: The Prefab Home Designed and Built by Robots first appeared on Dornob.

How far would you go to get away from the daily distractions to your work? How about a secluded landscape in Switzerland with a stunning view of Lake Geneva and the Alps?

Since 2013, the Jan Michalski Foundation in Montricher, just northwest of Lausanne, has been a place that fosters the creation of new literary works and the overall increase of literacy all around the world. Writers and artists go there to work and do research, and the general public visits to attend cultural events and exhibitions. Yes, the foundation occupies a unique structure that would be uncommon in any major city in the world, let alone the Swiss countryside. It is a complex that barely touches the ground, with most of its structures hanging from a concrete canopy with an organic form and lattice-like shapes. The canopy itself stands on pilotis meant to represent the trees of the surrounding forest.

The idea for this literary sanctuary came from Vera and Jan Michalski, who originally bought it from the Saint Joseph’s Catholic parish in Lausanne. For that reason, the couple made a point to have the architecture of the complex pay homage to the site’s religious history. Today, the foundation’s spiritual feel is immediately apparent, with its buildings elevated above the earth like graceful celestial bodies. Maybe not that high, of course, but the intention is clear nonetheless.

Every building on the site is meant to resemble a treehouse, housing both foundation staff and the writers-in-residence, who themselves can live there with their families for anytime between two weeks and six months. “Suspended Forest” is just one of those perched cabins, held in place by about a dozen steel ties. Only its outdoor stairs come close to touching the ground, and even then, just barely. Completed in 2018 by Kengo Kuma & Associates, this 1,292-square-foot home, like all the others in this retreat, only uses materials that are native to the site.

From the main road, thecabin welcomes the viewer with a tilted face, an opening to the ever-changing world within its walls, and a gaping window to the outside. The exterior is a contorted box dressed in hand-cut untreated oak and larch shingles applied in a checkered pattern, which the architects hope will form a patina in the future. Beneath these shingles are white steel plates for waterproofing. The interior wall and ceiling surfaces are covered in larch plywood sheets and triangular in form, framing the walls in a way that creates several memorable interiors. Irregularly shaped skylights permit light to enter the house along its length, with large floor-to-ceiling lights brightening things up even more.

So what to do you think? Ready to get started on that novel of yours?

The post This Forest Complex Pays Writers to Stay Inside Floating Homes first appeared on Dornob.

Aitken notes that the single-level ranch house is an archetypal 20th century-design in the United States — one whose exceedingly simple shape made it the perfect blank canvas for the project. Developed in the 1920s and 30s, this style marries the modernism of Frank Lloyd Wright with the rugged, straightforward characteristics of traditional houses built throughout the American West. It’s become so ubiquitous that it almost lacks any personality of its own. Cover it in mirrors and it disappears altogether, greeting visitors with a surreal, dreamlike space that will never look exactly the same twice. It’s essentially defined by its surroundings, and by the perception of whoever enters it.

Set in a snowy field beside the vernacular houses of the Swiss Alps, the installation was designed to illustrate a contrast between the idea of manifest destiny in the American West and its presumptive settler colonialism with the staid traditions of Europe. In a way, the apparent “blankness” of the house is a mirage in itself, just as the West appeared unclaimed and ripe for the taking by European settlers in the 19th century despite centuries of habitation by Native Americans. Mirage Gstaad will remain in place and open to visitors through January 2021.

Aitken adds: “In the tradition of land-art as a reflection of the dreams and aspirations projected onto the American West, Mirage Gstaad presents a continually changing encounter in which subject and object, inside and outside are in constant flux. With every available surface clad in mirror, it both absorbs and reflects the landscape around it in such ways that the exterior will seemingly disappear just as the interior draws the viewer into a never-ending kaleidoscope of light and reflection.”

“As Mirage Gstaad pulls the landscape in and reflects it back out, this classic one-story suburban house becomes a framing device, a perceptual echo-chamber endlessly bouncing between the dream of nature as pure uninhabited state and the pursuit of its conquest. Situated against the backdrop of Videmanette in Gstaad, Mirage Gstaad will bring the idea of manifest destiny and the American West into contact with the European landscape and the tradition of the sublime.”

Aitken previously erected a similarly mirrored ranch house in an entirely different environment: urban Detroit. That site-specific installation, which opened in October 2018, is set within the main vault of the historic State Savings Bank, essentially “reactivating” a space that’s frozen in time. Because the old bank is devoid of natural light, lighting design played a significant role in the process, with carefully choreographed white light slowly moving through the interior to mimic the same gradual changes that are produced by the sun in the Gstaad installation.

The post Kaleidoscopic Mirror House in the Swiss Alps Creates an Ever-Changing Mirage first appeared on Dornob.

Fit for a big screen villain or the most paranoid of survivalists, this tiny wood-lined home is virtually invisible against the rocky hillside landscape of the Swiss Alps. A cabin is concealed within an artificial boulder, textured to match the natural ones that surround it. The remote location of the mountain shelter makes it all the more mysterious and surreal, as if you’re stepping into an alternate universe when you enter.

In fact, the architects at studio Bureau A were inspired by a lead character in the novel Derborence by Charles-Ferdinand Ramuz, a shepherd named Antoine who survives for seven weeks after being trapped among rocks during a landslide. The alpine shelter, built in the tradition of architecture-sculpture of artist André Bloc, was self-built in the village and transported to the site.

“ANTOINE is a tribute to the alpine experience and to the writer,” say the architects. “The small wooden cabin, big enough for the life of one man, is hidden inside a projected concrete rock. Referring to the long lasting Swiss tradition of hidden bunkers, the project integrates the highly urbanized landscape of the Alps. Already described by the French philosopher Paul Virilio in 1975, military architecture conducted by principles of camouflage has, for long, fascinated the architects.”

“ANTOINE was a commission by the artist residency Verbier 3d Foundation. It was self-built in the village and transported to the high-altitude sculpture park. The 6 weeks residency allowed for the construction of what can be considered an inhabited sculpture that follows the tradition of architecture-sculpture described by artist André Bloc and developed physically by André Bloc and Claude Parent.”

Calling it ‘subversive,’ the architects note that the camouflaged boulder cabin “contains the very basic architectural elements – fire place, bed, table, stool, window – but demands to the visitor some risk taking as the rock hangs literally on the rock fall field.”

The post Perfect Camo: Boulder House Blends Into Swiss Mountainside first appeared on Dornob.

In remote lake-and-hill country within Switzerland, building on site is often not an option – some spots are, at best, accessible only by motorcycle, small car or boat. This house was dropped off and installed in record speed.

In this case, a helicopter was required to bring building materials to the site – or the entire building, as it were, yet another mini-structure designed by Horden Cherry Lee Architects.

Constructed primarily of ultra-light-weight materials like aluminum and filling just a few square meters of space, the home required just a few quick attachments to fit in its permanent location overlooking a rural lake.

The nuts and bolts: “a 2.6m cube, by one meter in the south direction to create a full size 1.8m square double bed and space for dining table to seat up to eight people. The modified champagne-coloured micro home, is constructed using a light aluminium frame, total weight 1.8 tons.”

If it sounds cramped, you may be surprised at just hoe much stuff fits inside: “In addition to double bed, which lifts and lowers, the guest bed and dining and working space, the micro home has toilet shower and kitchen fitted with microwave, fridge and freezer etc. The little house also has air conditioning and low energy LED lighting and beige leather surfaces with custom designed space for Geneva sound system and Nespresso coffee machine”

The post Helicoptered Home: Flown Micro-Prefab Set Up in 5 Minutes first appeared on Dornob.

Cavernous but wide open, dark and heavy but bright and spacious, this incredible underground house is the ultimate expression of architectural opposites fused into a single spectacular earthen living structure buried in the mountainous ground of the Swiss Alps. “Villa Vals” is a collaboration between SeARCH and Christian Müller Architects, and while there are lots of subterranean houses built into hillsides in the world, none are quite like this.

Like a modern version of a mythical hobbit house, Villa Vals is built right into the hillside in its mountainous Swiss setting. Rather than wrapping outward around the home, the exterior facade circles inward and faces an oval forecourt – a curved impression in the ground like the space left behind by a giant mysterious egg.

From within, this odd opening frames amazing views of the surrounding green hills and distant white mountains as well as providing a sense of enclosure and security for residents within the home and front courtyard area – a one-sided yet stunning view as opposed to the normal full-surround sights normally expected of a mountain home.

Constructed of stone and concrete, the house feels solid and safe inside and out – yet manages to have copious openings to allow natural light to flow effortlessly into every interior space.

Wood accents bring in further natural elements but also provide colorful textured highlights against the more neutral gray of the core structure.

Despite its highly unconventional and contemporary form, there is much that is comfortable and traditional in this home as well – again embodying a strange set of opposites, featuring both phenomenally forward-thinking design strategies and traditional construction and decoration techniques.

“Shouldn’t it be possible to conceal a house in an Alpine slope while still exploiting the wonderful views and allowing light to enter the building?” the architects write. “Surprised that it was permissible to construct a pair of dwellings so close to the world famous thermal baths of Vals, the client seized the opportunity to develop the site, without disturbing the bath’s expansive views. The introduction of a central patio into the steep incline creates a large façade with considerable potential for window openings. The viewing angle from the building is slightly inclined, giving an even more dramatic view of the strikingly beautiful mountains on the opposite side of the narrow valley.”

The post Ultimate Underground Mountain Home first appeared on Dornob.