The approach path to this Alpine house is one of the key points of the project. The road climbs steeply and the house shows itself from afar, hides, and then reappears in a scenic perspective. The choice of orientation of the views determines the plan of the house. To the west is the access, with all the service volumes; to the east, a large living area looks into the valley with the bright panoramas.
The list of functions requested by the owners is rich and complex, and divided into two juxtaposed volumes with sections of different heights that follow the conformation of the land. The living area is located at the entrance level and combines the two volumes into a single fluid space. The master bedroom area is on the upper floor, overlooking the double height, while the other bedrooms, the sauna and wellness area are located on the lower floor. From the outside, the house seems to slip on the ground. The house is light and does not impose terraces or other violent works on the landscape.
From the inside the volume of the living area is designed by an impressive exposed concrete roof, which follows the slanting of the two volumes with different heights and seems to enter the mountain. Exposed concrete floors and ceilings suspended on glass façades accentuate the lightness of the roof. From the outside, the house is characterized by an external skin made of wood, like many traditional Alpine architectures. It acts like a sun breaker, and a necessary element of solar control and energy-saving.
An external sunshade made of vertical larch blades surrounds the whole building and invents a filter space between the internal world and the external. The wooden blades have different orientations; they are sometimes rotated, with inconstant spacing, so, the light vibrates and changes constantly on the outer skin.
