by Sam Demas
This glittering, crystalline structure changes the aesthetic paradigm and technical concept of Alpine lodging. A technologically sophisticated building, the New Monte Rosa Hut sets a new standard for hut design and is an exemplar of design for self-sufficiency in remote places. It is located at an altitude of 2,883 meters, above the Gorner glacier and near the the Matterhorn and Dufourspitze, Switzerland’s highest peak. It is at least 90% self-sufficient in meeting its energy needs and is said to be 65% self-sufficient overall (alas, it cannot grow its own food!).
Completed in 2009, the New Monte Rosa is an amazing example of “green architecture”. This hut is both a remarkable design and construction accomplishment and an ongoing research and development project of ETH (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology) Zurich, the flagship university of natural science and technology. Undertaken in partnership with its owner, the Monte Rosa section of Swiss Alpine Club (SAC), the project was conceived by as a means of commemorating ETH’s 150 years of leading edge research and teaching. SAC paid about one-third of the total cost of 6,500,ooo Swiss Francs (USD$6,800,000 at current rate), with the balance coming from donations associated with ETH Zurich’s sesquicentennial celebrations.
This month’s “Featured Hut” essay will focus very briefly on the architecture of the building and its contributions to sustainable hut design. For more detailed information on the design, construction, energy systems, etc. see the beautiful book New Monte Rosa Hut SAC: Self-sufficient building in the high Alps, ETH-Zurich, gta Verlag, 2010, and our review of this book, as well as our photo gallery. Many reviews and articles can be found in the architectural, engineering, and tourism literature.
Purpose and amenities: The New Monte Rosa Hut is one of over a dozen mountain huts in the Monte Rosa region. The project was to replace the original 1895 Monte Rosa hut, which had been renovated and expanded many times. It serves as a refuge for hikers and climbers. Once the new hut was completed the original was destroyed because only one hut is allowed on the mountain. This hut (aka “lodge”, as some think “hut” is a misnomer for the new generation of high-tech mountain lodgings) sleeps up to 120 hikers and skiers and is open spring through autumn. It is reached by taking the cog railway from Zermatt and hiking about 3.5 hours. Given the necessity of traversing a glacier it is recommended that hikers without glacier experience employ the services of a guide to avoid an accident while walking over ice fields.
The structure is fully heated and ventilated using the latest technologies. It provides hot showers (as energy supply allows), hot meals, sleekly designed social spaces, and flush toilets. Beds are in bunk rooms. The mattresses are trapezoidal in shape (emulating human design, with the feet taking less space than the shoulders), with plenty of room for two people.
Research, design and construction goals: ETF’s goal was to develop a building that combined innovative architecture with a technical design that integrated and optimized the building components and multiple state-of-the-art systems — thereby achieving the highest level of self-sufficiency possible in energy, water and waste. Another goal was to design the structure as an ongoing research project in systems optimization and building technology. To this end, the energy systems in the building can be dynamically monitored and controlled from labs in Zurich, taking into account weather predictions, the number of people being housed, and other variables.
The overall goal of minimizing both the use of conventional fossil fuels for energy and the consequent carbon dioxide emissions was to be achieved by combining:
- high tech solar energy systems,
- highly efficient insulation and building design,
- sophisticated energy management software integrating multiple energy sources and storage systems,
- careful attention to component sizing, and
- design of interior spaces to promote air circulation and capture passive solar energy.
Construction goals were to use local materials as much as possible, anticipate the effects of global warming, minimize the weight and and cost of transporting materials to the site, and design a structure that could be completed in a five month construction season. A cradle to grave life-cycle analysis of the building was completed, and the intent is to continue learning from this building about sustainable planning throughout its existence.
Design process and concept: Conceived as a pedagogical and research enterprise, Studio Monte Rosa, comprised of interdisciplinary team of ETH faculty and students began work in 2003/04. Over a period of four academic terms they produced ten conceptual designs, which were analyzed, critiqued, and gradually reduced to a few. During the first research and development phase, 2005-2008, an interdisciplinary research team planned the building and its energy systems, and conducted climate, financial and environmental feasibility studies. The final design concept emerged from this highly collaborative, interdisciplinary process.
Prof. Andrea Deplazes was the project lead and Prof. Marcel Baumartner was appointed lead architect. The overall design concept is nicely described by Steven Spier in his November 1, 2009 article “Sustainable Mountain Hut by Studio Monte Rosa” in Architectural Review:
An obvious starting point was a dense building with minimal surface area. A sphere delivers the smallest surface area relative to volume, so the new Monte Rosa hut tapers a spherical form over five storeys in response to its plan, the constrains of prefabricated timber construction, and the need to minimize openings while maximizing solar gain.
Internally, the form is centrifugally segmented like an orange, with 50 separate compartments. The central core is a compact hallway and landing from which the sleeping quarters fan out. Vertical circulation wraps up and along the external wall. The huge volume follows the arc of the sun, bringing in passive solar heat, pulling air through and providing stunning views. Yet it is also designed to be a social and dramatic space; the depth of the structure allows you to sit in the facade and the main grand staircase is painted glistening gold. With a huge rectilinear plan covers in photovoltaic panels angled at precisely 66.2 (degrees) to maximize solar gain, the south facade is a purely rational form for generating power.
The ribbon window following and illuminating the staircase, which positioned against the exterior wall, wends its way around the interior of the building as a mountain path climbs across a slope or around a mountain. The high-tech glass allows maximum passive solar absorption and beautiful views.
In an interview in the above-cited book New Monte Rosa Hut SAC: Self-sufficient building in the high Alps (p.60-61), Professor of Technological History David Gugerli delivers a somewhat other-worldly, high-tech, and somewhat elitist characterization of the design concept:
It could be argued that the project is the first to give architectural form to developments in mountaineering that have occurred over the last two or three decades. Instead of conquest and the kind of mass tourism opened up by the mountain railways, the priority now is to welcome athletic and fully equipped mountaineers to an environment in which they can select from a range of challenging physical activities. With their breathable Gore-Tex clothing and high-tech kit, they are like cyborgs in space suits, ideally equipped to survive in these inhospitable surroundings. What you’ve done is build a space station that is also a kind of skin permeable to energy flows — a place that conceives of the collective temporarily thrown together up in the mountains as a cyborg community numbering anything between two and 120 individuals, and actually creates that community.
Construction and materials: The building sits on a stainless steel platform that is anchored into the mountain rock. Thus the permafrost is protected from the warmth of the building. The temperature of the rock is measured regularly to a depth of 40 meters to monitor potential long-term effects of climate change on the permafrost. The building is clad in light and durable aluminum. The internal structure is a complicated timber construction design with axial prefab wooden walls radiating from a central core. High precision offsite prefabrication of wood components allowed for maximum speed, safety and efficiency. Digital carving of wood surfaces produced a look reminiscent of tree rings and traditional handicraft techniques. The site is 8 km from the nearest road, requiring helicopter transport of building materials and crews (formerly done by mule). Use of local, lightweight materials helped to reduce the number of helicopter trips (c. 3,000 one-way trips, about 15% of the project budget) and construction costs.
Water, waste, heating, ventilation and energy systems: For the serious reader, these very general systems descriptions should be supplemented by reading the ETH book cited above, and by consulting the scientific literature. The books and articles I have consulted were mostly written at the time of the opening of the hut and some are short on technical details. [I have not searched out reports based on actual use data over the past 5 years. Anyone care to research this and publish a post?]
Glacial meltwater is collected in a 200 cubic meter cistern blasted into the mountain and available by gravity feed (cistern is 40 meters above the hut) year-round. Water us heated by thermal collectors and water-saving faucets are used.
Human and other waste are purified using a micro-filter system with a biological waste treatment system of some kind. Purified water is reused for flush toilets and washing machines. Purified surplus waste water is released into the environment. It appears that solid waste is bagged and transported off site by helicopter, but it is hard to tell from the descriptions.
Heating is by passive solar through the ribbon windows and by solar thermal collectors. The hut is heated and cooled (as needed) to about 15 degrees Celsius in the restaurant and 10 degrees Celsius in the sleeping rooms. Circulation is by mechanical ventilation activated by temperature sensors and carbon dioxide sensors in the restaurant, by an “occupancy switch” in the sleeping zones, and by natural air flows precipitated by the building design.
The hybrid electrical system includes a 3,600 sq. meter array of photovoltaic solar collectors located outside the hut and a co-generation system. The hut is designed to achieve 90% energy self-sufficiency. The balance of energy, particularly during cloudy periods and periods of peak demand, comes from a co-generation facility operated on rapeseed oil.