#alpine chalet

Troll Hus

single-family residence in Norden, California...Based on the alpine chalet building type, the house is lifted on concrete legs to protect it from snow...

Read more

Architect Stefan Rier designed this Alpine style home, in the Italian Alps, for his family and gave it a very unsuspected surreal interior.

Hanging boxes, at different heights, house the three bedrooms, each designed as a micro-home, supported by a wooden beam structure over the main living space.

On the ground floor there is a common area which spreads out almost in a ‘piazza’ fashion.

Called the Messner House, Stefan was inspired by his childhood memories of playing in the family barn.

The interior is innovative and the kitchen was designed to accommodate more than one cook. The drapes throughout the house are for a theater effect.

The rest of the Messner house develops in a vertical way instead of the classic room divisions. The ground floor is a large open space with three diverse ‘island’ functions: the relaxation area, the dining area, and the kitchen.

Some elements of the home are Mediterranean, like these lacy stairs.

A staircase and a walkway system, which as well as having a connecting function, accommodate the ‘bathroom’ areas with tubs and showers (only the toilets are closed in).

Each bedroom has it’s own style. The master is so elegant.

The 2nd fl. gets natural light from large skylights. 

This bath area has a view. From below it hangs over the floor like a torpedo.

The rooftop deck.

Mork Ulnes architects: Troll hus, alipine chalet, Norden, California; 2016

Area: 17500 ft² / 1625m²

Located in the Sugar Bowl Ski Resort, 2.5 hours northeast of San Francisco, this 5 bedroom ski cabin was designed for 3 generations to enjoy simultaneously.

The essential diagram is straightforward: take the alpine chalet building type and lift it onto a concrete plinth to protect it from the snow. Located at an elevation of 6,800 feet, the building needs to withstand extreme snowfall that can exceed 800 inches. The residence’s positioning on-site, however, is more nuanced. Influenced by prevailing wind-drift direction and other climatic factors, the orientation shields the building from the street and directs views to a private stream and forest beyond. Living spaces are arranged along the open, south-facing facade to maximize solar exposure. The shaded northern face contains utility rooms where small punched windows draw in indirect northern light but minimize heat loss. 

Tar-treated wood siding recedes among the tree trunks of this wooded site, and at dusk the interior finished with minimally treated fir glows warm through the windows.