arch plus 355: Monte Rosa Huette

2,883m above sea level, inaccessible by car or ski lift and a three-hour hike from the base of the mountain, the Neue Monte Rosa-Hütte is a destination for only the most dedicated architecture fans. The lodge and restaurant for Swiss hikers, on the icy slopes of the Monte Rosa mountain in the Swiss Alps, was a collaborative project to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the ETH university of science and technology in Zurich. The university worked with Swiss practice Bearth and Deplazes and the Swiss Alpine Club, a mountaineering club looking for a contemporary replacement for its existing 19th-century hut. "The idea was to build a sustainable building as an exemplar building project," says project architect Marcel Baumgartner. "The conditions were so extreme up there, with no electricity, no water supply, no roads, no streets. It had to be self-sufficient and provide energy on site. In a way it was the perfect test for the university."

The new Monte Rosa hut is surrounded by the highest peaks of the Swiss Alps is extremely inspiring not only due to its glittering crystal shape but even more with regard to its convincing demonstration of state of the art technology. On the one hand, all the façade and load-bearing elements as well as the interior partition walls are the results of computer-aided design and computer-integrated manufacturing in a way that material consumption and transport weight are reduced to an absolute minimum. In addition, this innovative production technology facilitates the construction of the various elements and therefore cuts substantially on-site building time.
On the other hand, the technical autonomy of this building is another outstanding highlight. Far away from any public utility network, the Monte Rosa hut relies completely on its own energy production, water collection, and systems for treating solid waste and waste water. As a result the CO2 emission will be less then one third compared to the existing alpine hut, which will be dismantled afterwards. Although this project incurs high construction costs, requires the transport of all construction elements by helicopter, and has limited transferability as an entire project, its convincing achievements in terms of autonomy and use of technology.

The striking factor about the Swiss Alpine Club’s (SAC) new Monte Rosa hut is its autonomy in the heart of a sensitive landscape, an extreme climatic region far from comfortable civilized supply networks, in “splendid isolation” between seemingly untamed nature and highly urban culture. This applies to the production, the building site logistics, the autarkic (self-suffi cient) infrastructure and the operation of the hut. The project is based on a fi ve-storey, segmentshaped wooden lathe building method. The computer-aided
mechanical production process makes it possible to use traditional construction methods such as half-timber
building with its geometrically complex wood junctions. The result is a wide range of possibilities for the use of timber.

The concept of the highly insulated façade is the result of a mixture of energy saving and energy production. The facet-like, metallic skin is studded with photovoltaic panels that supply the building with the necessary operational energy. A spiral-shaped glass band that follows the sun and conducts passive energy into the dining room and peripherally ascending cascade staircase is wound around the whole building and presents the guest with an impressive landscape panorama.

Stage I: teaching. The Studio Monte Rosa was established at the Department of Architecture within the framework of the ETH Zurich’s 150th Anniversary for the planning and execution of the new Monte Rosa hut. Students were formed into changing design teams over a period of four semesters.
The project classes comprised the planning from the conception to the provisional building project. Particular
importance was attached to interdisciplinary collaboration with specialists and expert planners. The didactic concept was based on the creation of an artifi cial emergency situation, and the result aimed at an autarkic island solution. Following a two-year evolutionary design process, a wellknown jury recommended this incisive project for implementation.

Stage II: research. In a second stage, various chairs of the Department of Architecture and other involved departments of the ETH Zurich were formed into a research group for the research and development project. The challenge was to include knowledge of the latest technology and research in construction in the project new Monte Rosa hut and to consolidate this knowledge. All the results of the research and development project are oriented toward the multifaceted aspects of sustainability and are intended to be suitable for use in other projects as well.

Stage III: realization. Commencement of work on the new Monte Rosa hut site planned for the early summer of 2008, and the inauguration for the summer of 2009.