Swiss architects Deschenaux Follonier have transformed Lù Chatarme Chalet with a minimalist and raw approach.
The holiday house is located along the mountain landscape outside the village of Arolla, Switzerland. The traditional mountain chalet has long sheltered its owner a few months of the year, following a 1,850 meter climb to graze his cows.
"The project takes root in the dialogue with the farmer, in the customs of the place, in its history. How to keep the specific features of a mountain shelter, while enhancing its hosting potential, its habitability and its comfort?"
A raw concrete intervention expresses a delicate relationship with the adjacent rock — rather than avoiding or destroy it, the brut wall gently slips past. The architects preserve and exaggerate the rugged, wooden materiality of the interior. The wood is sourced locally from a small larch forest owned by the family, whose trees had been planted during the construction of the existing structure.
"The concrete is distinct from the rock, yet they share a same mineral nature. Their unity is expressed even by the color of the iron oxide of the rock, which is recalled by the wooden window frames."