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Oh, look. It’s just another retreat shaped like a missile, painted like a Christmas sweater, and hanging clear off the side of a mountain.
Architects have officially lost their marbles! These particular architects, LEAPfactory, were enabled by the Turin arm of the Italian Alpine Club, which wanted to build an overnight hikers’ hut to celebrate the 60th anniversary of its ski-mountaineering school.
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The New Refuge Gervasutti cantilevers over the eastern face of the mega-huge, mega-scary Grandes Jorasses in the western Alps--a location so remote, the shelter’s parts had to be prefabricated off-site, then helicoptered in. The Christmas-sweater pattern was added to make the place jarringly visible to mountaineers and skiers.
Grandes Jorasses is located in the Valle D'Aosta, Haute Savoie, in the French-Italian Alps and soars 13,800 feet (Click Image To Enlarge)
Inside, the shelter is designed to create a “pleasing and relaxing experience.” It has a kitchen, a table with seating, bunk beds, and plenty of storage space. An integrated computer offers detailed information about the weather and climate. And the trimmings are done up in a cozy wood finish. You could nearly mistake the place for a pint-sized Swiss chalet. Except for that whole part about the kitchen jutting out over nothing but air.
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The New Refuge Gervasutti was completed in October. Unlike a lot of mountain retreats, it’s open to the public, and it's free. Though if you’re anything like me (i.e. a big old wussy) someone would have to pay you to stay there.
COMMENTARY: The New Refuge Gervasutti is located on a cliff located on the majestic Grandes Jorasses, a 13,800 feet peak located in the French-Italian Alps. Just to build the damn thing must've been quite an engineering feat. That view looking over the clouds below gives me vertigo. I doubt I could sleep in that place, let alone go there. I could not find a video of the New Refuge Gervasutti, but here's a wonderful video of a couple of French mountain climbers scaling the Grandes Jorasses back in 2009. Enjoy.
Courtesy of an article dated December 8, 2011 appearing in Fast Company Design
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