There are plenty of funky cabins in Europe's high mountains (like this and this), but a tiny cabin camouflaged as a boulder in the Swiss Alps just might take the cake. Designed by the Swiss studio Bureau A, this small wooden cabin holds a fire place, bed, table, stool, and window- all the essentials "big enough for the life of one man." Called Antoine after the name of the main character who is trapped in a landslide for 7 weeks in the novel Derborence by Charles Ferdinand Ramuz, the cabin was built in Verbier, covered with concrete rock, and transported to the town's high-altitude sculpture park. It's a bit confusing as to who can actually use the fake rock for shelter, but Bureau A's website proclaims (albeit pretentiously), that Antoine is a precarious alpine shelter "somewhat subversive in its use where one can freely enter and hide." Beware, intrepid rock hunters, the innocuous-looking rock demands "some risk taking as the rock hangs literally on the rock fall field." It certainly doesn't look very stable to us, but who are we to judge.
And here's a video showing how architects transferred the one-windowed rock to its high-alpine location:
· Bureau A [Official Site]
· This Fake Boulder In the Alps Is Actually a Tiny, Perfect Cabin [Gizmodo]
· Tiny, Italian A-Frame Is Free to Stay If You Climb 8,303 Feet [Curbed Ski]
· Metallic Hut Sits On Top of the World in the Swiss Alps [Curbed Ski]
· It's a Tree, It's a Wood Pile, No Wait, It's An Italian Super Hut! [Curbed Ski]
Loading comments...