The Chalet

01

Materials

Old wood,contemporary architecture

Reclaimed Anniviers larch and brushed Vals quartzite, a fourteen-metre run of south glass, a board-formed concrete spine anchoring the fireplace. Lemair & Hess of Geneva completed the house in 2021.

The cladding has weathered to silver-grey; inside, the larch keeps its warmth. The materials were chosen to age into the mountain rather than against it.

14 m

Of south glass

2021

Completed

Close detail of weathered Anniviers larch cladding meeting the brushed Vals quartzite plinth, autumn larch needles on the stone path.

Larch Reclaimed from Anniviers, weathered to silver-grey above a plinth of Vals quartzite.

02

The great room

One long roomfacing the valley

The great room runs the width of the south glass: a lit Stûv 30 in the concrete spine, linen sofas set low, and the oak table at the far end where the light lasts longest.

Great room with a lit Stûv 30 fireplace in a board-formed concrete spine, linen sofas, oak dining table, and a dusk valley view through the south glass.

Sundown over Mont Blanc arrives at 16:38 in mid-December and 17:42 by February. The room is arranged around that hour.

16:38

Mid-December

17:42

By February

Aerial of the chalet at Plans-Mayens in late June, ringed by larch and stone pine, a wildflower meadow, the Rhone valley unfolding below.

Plans-Mayens Late June, from above: larch, stone pine and the meadow.

03

The plateau

La terrassedu soleil

The plateau sits at 1,700 metres on the south-facing shoulder of the Bernese Alps — high enough for reliable snow from mid-December to mid-April, low enough for a treeline of mature larch and stone pine.

Sixty private chalets, a single switchback road, and a forest path to a wood-fired inn six minutes away. The view from the fireplace takes in the Wildhorn glacier and the long Rhône valley unrolling toward Sion.

1,700 m

The plateau

60

Private chalets

6 min

To a wood-fired inn