Sheet index — Aske Tarn Architects

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A concept by Warped Web Studio

AT-012 — Hospitality

Refuge at Bregaglia

A small pitched-roof refuge clad in weathered grey among granite boulders.
Height from rock to ridge: 11.20 metres

Height from rock to ridge

Location
Val Bregaglia, Graubünden, Switzerland
Grid ref.
46°20′N 9°35′E
Programme
Mountain refuge, twelve beds
Year
2017–2020
Status
Completed
Area
290 m²
Levels
3
Structure
Concrete with granite aggregate; larch interior lining

The site can be reached on foot in four hours, or by helicopter in the few weeks when the weather allows. Every element of the refuge was sized to that constraint: the concrete was mixed with granite crushed from the site, and the interior was prefabricated in larch panels no heavier than a single lift.

S-01

A stone among stones

From the valley the refuge is almost invisible. Its grey is the grey of the moraine, and its pitched roof takes the angle of the surrounding scree.

Low cloud over a mountain valley, a small building on the open slope below.
Low cloud over a mountain valley, a small building on the open slope below.

S-02

Warmth in the centre

The plan places a single stove and the stair at the centre, with bunks arranged around them in timber alcoves. Heat rises through the building; the outer rooms stay cool, as they should.

A narrow concrete passage with stairs overhead, lit in bands from one side.
A narrow concrete passage with stairs overhead, lit in bands from one side.
Concrete walls and stairs stepping up against a clear blue sky.
Concrete walls and stairs stepping up against a clear blue sky.

Schedule

Materials

  • M-01

    Granite-aggregate concrete

    Aggregate crushed from site rock, bush-hammered to expose it

  • M-02

    Larch

    Prefabricated interior panels, unfinished

  • M-03

    Zinc

    Standing-seam roof, pre-weathered