Originally, the chalet was just a simple barn, located outside a village in the canton of Valais (Switzerland) on an exceptional site.
The original project by Ralph Germann to envelop the chalet from the outside to ensure optical insulation was refused by the cantonal building commission. As a consequence, the owners and architect decided to insulate the building from the inside. A wooden box, built from larch wood, was inserted into the chalet’s walls. The outside of the chalet was thus hardly touched, only the windows were modified to open up to the spectacular views of the surroundings. They were also adapted with a special glass that makes use of the passive heat. As soon as one enters the chalet, one is immediately captured by the coherent, refined, almost monastic atmosphere. A white ceiling accentuates the lightness of the space. Using only one type of wood, namely larch, for the walls and custom made furniture visually enlarges the otherwise rather small space of 60mc2. For the furniture, a veneer version of larch wood was used giving them thus a more sophisticated look than the raw larch wood used for the walls and floors. The space in the chalet is efficiently used. Cupboards without handles are situated in the kitchen and bedroom areas. At the entrance, a suspended bench allows not only to comfortable sit down but also hides cleverly shoes.
