Chesa Futura

The town of St. Moritz is annually affected by an interesting tourist phenomenon. The population here swells to ten times its size during the main ski season.

The Oberengadine Valley is considered one of the most picturesque in all of Switzerland. From the surface of the silver lake at an altitude of 1800 meters above sea level, beautifully wooded mountains rise with snow-capped peaks. In such a scenic setting, Lord Norman Foster placed his gem. A weekend house for himself and his Zurich friends is perched on eight legs with the best slope orientation, overlooking the lake and surrounding mountains. Although the kidney-shaped form of the house resembles a parked UFO, its author drew from local customs, respecting the place and its visitors. The form of the fifteen-meter high and forty-meter long mountain lodge was created entirely on a computer. Any change in the design was dynamically reflected in the entire 3D mass. This principle proved so effective that in the case of GLA, Foster's office sent only a single file to individual professions and suppliers, and that was a 3D model of the entire house. While the ribs of the wooden beams were shaped by CNC machines in Germany, the larch facade comes from a traditional local shingle workshop (a quarter of a million pieces). The spacious apartments of Chesa Fututra (each with 8-10 rooms) are clustered around two circular concrete communication cores. The organic external form minimally translates into the internal layout. Where we would expect curves or organic shapes, rectangular forms prevail. Nevertheless, you cannot complain about a lack of exclusivity here.