Buildings appear in harmony with the landscape and use mostly local materials, often delivered by helicopter or temporary cable car, writes Fathom Architects director Justin Nicholls
Nowhere have I felt more insignificant as a human than in the Swiss Alps this summer. It was hard to grasp the sheer scale and beauty of the mountain landscape. To make sense of it, visitor maps are drawn in elevation rather than plan.
We first stayed on a small plateau at 1,650m in the Bernese Alps with an 800m drop into the valley, looking towards Mönch peaking at 4,110m. For scale, the Shard is 310m high. We then moved to Vals in Graubünden – less high and less visited but no less impressive.
Thin mountain air immediately has you working harder and weather changes fast. What arrives at a moment’s notice can be spectacular as it forms above, around and even below you.
Gnarly slopes were peppered with agricultural huts designed to keep livestock on the stone ground level, and hay on the timber upper levels – scattered like dice to avoid losing everything in rockfalls or avalanches.
Buildings appeared in harmony with the landscape, and materials were almost exclusively locally sourced, from traditional mountain huts and stone-tiled houses to more contemporary developments like Peter Zumthor’s Therme Vals or Kengo Kuma’s Haus Balma.
A local construction project highlighted how challenging this environment was, with materials delivered by helicopter or temporary cable car, and bespoke machinery to cope with the steep inclines and extreme site limitations.
The biggest intervention we saw was the Zervreila hydroelectric dam, which came into view after three hours of hiking through unspoilt valley scenes. It was hard to conceive how this epic feat of engineering and infrastructure – completed in 1957, 150m high and 151m wide – was possible.
We left with absolute respect for the raw beauty and extremes of the Swiss mountains, and will definitely return.
Justin Nicholls is director at Fathom Architects
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