What, do you live in a barn? Um, actually…

Like many cabins, huts, or small houses scattered throughout the Alps, this single-family getaway in Val d’Hérens, Switzerland, began life as a cow shed. Located at 6,000 feet in the shadow of 14,294-foot Dent Blanche, it was rebuilt by the architectural firm Personeni Raffaele Scharer with a new concrete foundation, but many of the original materials were reclaimed. Indeed, from the outside, the cabin looks almost identical to the traditional style. Rock from the original foundation serves as a facade for the new. The roof is covered in slate. And wood from the walls was turned into shutters that both hide the windows and preserve the classic mountain hut aesthetic.

Power comes via solar panels, heat via a wood fireplace. The interior is so simple as to be stark: bare concrete floors, white walls, storage hidden behind white cabinets. Perhaps it’s trying to go beyond minimalist, or perhaps the splendor of the Alps is enough. But without editorializing too much, a little interior warmth would go a long way to make the inside as charming as the out.

Architects: Personeni Raffaele Scharer

Weekend Cabin isn’t necessarily about the weekend, or cabins. It’s about the longing for a sense of place, for shelter set in a landscape…for something that speaks to refuge and distance from the everyday. Nostalgic and wistful, it’s about how people create structure in ways to consider the earth and sky and their place in them. It’s not concerned with ownership or real estate, but what people build to fulfill their dreams of escape. The very time-shortened notion of “weekend” reminds that it’s a temporary respite.

Tagged as: europe, mountain, shelter, weekend cabin