CASE STUDY: MONTE ROSA HUT

Modular design, sustainability, and BIM come together to create dramatic results in the Swiss Alps.

Photo courtesy of Holcim Foundation

Monte Rosa Hut: building exterior

Image courtesy of Holcim Foundation

Monte Rosa Hut: upper level plan

Photo courtesy of Holcim Foundation

Monte Rosa Hut: interior circulation stair

Photo courtesy of Holcim Foundation

Monte Rosa Hut: interior dining area

Project: Monte Rosa Hut: Sustainable Lodging in the Alps

Location: Swiss Alps, Switzerland

Architect: Bearth & Deplazes Architekten AG and ETH Zürich

The Challenge:The Monte Rosa Hut was conceived as one of 50 projects undertaken to commemorate the 150th anniversary of ETH Zürich, the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (a consistently highly ranked leader in research and education in Switzerland with worldwide influence). In 2003, the Studio Monte Rosa was formed within the ETH Faculty of Architecture to design and build a structure that would replace an original one that was in great need of repair. There are no roads leading to the Monte Rosa Hut site, which sits 2,883 meters above sea level in the Swiss Alps between the Gorner, Monte Rosa, and Grenz glaciers near Zermatt, Switzerland. Hours away from the nearest outpost, the surrounding landscape has a lunar quality—vast, isolated, and eerily quiet. One sees the Matterhorn to the west, dwarfing any sign of human life. The design intent was to continue the centuries-old tradition of providing alpine mountain shelters since most visitors to this location travel by foot over rocky, snow-covered terrain. A traveler can walk two to three hours from the nearest train station in Rotenboden or drop in by helicopter and ski there in the winter. Once the long journey is complete, the desired reward is a new building to serve two important purposes: to provide alpinists and hikers protection from the elements, as well as a comfortable, clean space to eat, rest, and commune with fellow travelers; and to provide ETH Zürich with valuable research on effective sustainable practices. The overriding challenge was to create a building that could be constructed far from public power and water supply grids, yet provide enough energy and water to serve all of its lodgers’ needs, while weathering the extreme wind, snow, and earthquakes that plague the area.

The Design Approach:The design of the Monte Rosa Hut was realized through constant collaboration among ETH students, the Swiss architecture firm Bearth & Deplazes Architekten, and the Studio Monte Rosa faculty. Together, the concept, design, research, and execution phases for the project were carried out to meet the stringent program requirements and established budget. After crafting 12 different proposals for the facility, they honed their ideas down to one groundbreaking design. This final version was based on pre-manufactured components that could be brought to the remote mountain location for assembly. It was also designed to be not only sustainable, but also self-sufficient by generating its own electricity and harvesting its own water. A sustainable hut that produces its own energy represents the next generation of technology and ecofriendly practices, and ensures that the mountains remain pristine for the future. The goal was to construct an unprecedented building that seemed impossible to create. However, all of this became possible because of the collaborative visualization and analysis capabilities of using BIM as the primary design tool.

The final building design is an irregular polygon with 10 interior segments created by radial cross beams. Its five stories are framed by asymmetrical angles. The shape was developed for efficiency, optimizing volume while reducing surface area, thus minimizing the facility’s exposure to wind and snow while providing room for 120 guests. It also contains a simple kitchen and dining area with a large common room for socialization. A ribbon of windows shadows a cascading staircase and echoes the ridges of the famous mountaintops in the distance.

In terms of sustainability, the Studio Monte Rosa and the ETH students designed everything through the lens of self-sufficiency. The building has its own water supply provided by the mountainous terrain. The design called for blasting through granite to create an underground tank to house 200 cubic meters of melt water, located below the permafrost barrier to keep the water from freezing in extreme temperatures. The design also called for a small on-site treatment plant to process wastewater and use grey water for toilets. Photovoltaic solar panels produce electrical power while solar thermal panels collect and distribute heat. Additionally, the large and continuous bands of windows stream sun into the building to provide daylight and passive solar gains. During periods of sustained cloudiness, or when the demand is higher, a cogeneration plant that runs on grapeseed oil, a type of biodiesel, supplies the needed additional energy.

The Construction Approach: The design team used BIM software to create the complex geometry of the Monte Rosa Hut, identifying 420 different wall and ceiling elements that were able to be prefabricated and pieced together on site. A big task was handling the different geometries while keeping the detailed solutions as similar as possible, as was done with the ribbon glazing/window strip, the timber construction/woodwork, and the furnishing of the bedrooms. Those bedrooms feature trapezoidal mattresses in various sizes made to minimize wasted space by matching the shape of the human body (broader at the top and tapering for the legs). BIM software was used to maximize the placement and number of beds within the given space. By simulating many different scenarios for the beds and other building elements, the team optimized the hut’s entire design, which saved a great amount of development time and significantly reduced building costs.

The construction process could not have been accomplished with traditional methods because the location was off the power, water, and transportation grids. This meant many of the prefabricated components needed to be delivered by alternative forms of transportation. Since most of the Monte Rosa Hut is constructed from sections of no more than 400 kilograms in weight, they were transported to the site by a small helicopter, which was the means determined to be most cost effective and environmentally friendly. Throughout the entire construction period, the team used the helicopter approximately 3,000 times, both to ferry components and as a building crane. Construction started with 10 concrete foundations that root the structure into the mountain’s rock and support a star shaped steel “table” with radial cross walls. On top of this table, the prefabricated first floor components were placed and secured into place. Interior sections fabricated to form the concise geometry from the building information model were added to support the second floor as similarly precise exterior panels were placed and connected. The sequence continued until all sections were in place and the building was completely closed in.

For the materials, the team chose to use renewable options as much as possible. After testing several different wall systems, Bearth & Deplazes Architekten determined that a conventional insulation package comprised of aluminum sheeting with mineral wool insulation and three-ply panel spruce would be the most efficient. In a nod to the traditional mountain huts, the architects selected local spruce and fir approved by the Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN) for the interior finish. They wanted to show off all of the construction, so they turned the large, blonde wooden beams around, exposing the mortises and dovetails. Since the joints were exposed, their formation required perfect precision. “Until now, no one has exploited the aesthetic potential of these apparently handmade joints in digital wood construction,” noted Andrea Deplazes, the lead architect. The design teams were also careful to select low-pollutant building materials that could eventually be recycled or discarded in the future with little effect on the environment.

In addition to being critical to the design and successful construction of the building, the BIM software also provided the basis for managing many aspects of the project. For example, the team was able to calculate project costs according to Swiss standards directly from the building information model. It also enabled the students to employ a “digital chain” methodology to fine tune the hut’s components at each step of the project, moving their data seamlessly from concept to design, to development, to fabrication, and finally to construction. By using the digital chain to address complexities and efficiencies, they were able to reduce the number of building elements by 30 percent and the weight by 40 percent, and also adjust design elements throughout the process.

The Results: The design of the Monte Rosa Hut is nothing short of amazing, especially since it is a 90 percent self-sufficient facility. It has earned recognition from the Swiss Confederation and Swiss Cantons because it provides “high-grade, airtight building envelopes and the continuous renewal of air in the building using an energy-efficient ventilation system.” The completed facility houses a state of the art research lab that measures the building’s efficiency as a self-sufficient entity. It also has an energy management system so sophisticated it factors in the weather forecast and the number of guests in its calculation of energy usage. BIM software files serve as input and output for the energy design. The ETH Zürich controls this energy management system remotely from Zürich about 260 kilometers away. This constitutes a giant step for the university into a brave new world of technology while providing a sustainable, pre-manufactured, computer-modeled facility for its guests. “I’d even maintain that it is currently the best hut in the Alps,” remarks Architect Deplazes. “Not because of its technology or form, but rather because we have succeeded in erecting a building that cannot be split into dichotomies, such as construction and technology, or surface and structure. Things work together. It is impossible to change anything about the building without calling other components into question. It constitutes a balanced whole.”