Upon first look, Avalanche Chalet seems to be a sublime however cozy ski retreat. Nonetheless, there’s extra to the design than meets the attention. Behind the elegant darkish wood façade and daring aesthetics are notably progressive engineering methods that imbue the construction with outstanding resilience: the constructing was designed to resist the drive of doable avalanches.
On condition that metropolis rules prohibit the diversion of potential avalanches onto neighboring properties, that is no small feat. Issue within the slim website’s 45-degree slope, which considerably will increase the drive of snow hitting the roof immediately, and the stakes of the design change into much more awe-inspiring.
Farmer Payne Architects, the agency behind the intelligent design, needed to devise a scheme that will enable monumental snowslides to go fully overtop of the construction, and their answer resulted not solely in a defensive design however one which can also be good-looking, providing its inhabitants new methods to narrate to their beautiful environment.
Avalanche Chalet by Farmer Payne Architects, Solar Valley, Idaho | Photograph by Gabe Border
Avalanche situations are trigged by a mixture of climate situations with snowfall patterns and ice layering in a mountainous terrain. Traditionally, people have developed methods for developing in avalanche-prone areas. Whereas avoiding high-risk websites is an apparent method, nature additionally conjures up options, together with constructing into hillsides and creating wedge-shaped constructions. Farmer Payne Architects drew on a few of these precedents, but in addition innovated whereas tailoring this system to the shoppers’ wants, leading to a house that seems open and ethereal, fairly than bulwarked.
Materially, it seems, nature additionally is aware of greatest. Wooden is probably not the primary materials that jumps to thoughts when fascinated with excessive climate preparedness, but it was exactly due to the structural challenges offered by the mountainous website that Farmer Payne Architects in the end selected to make use of Cross Laminated Timber (CLT) for the roof (Structurlam’s product is sourced from sustainably managed forests).
Avalanche Chalet by Farmer Payne Architects, Solar Valley, Idaho
Since this was the agency’s first foray in designing for avalanche situations, along with being their debut design that includes CLT, from the start Avalanche Chalet was conceived as a really collaborative undertaking. Consultants in fabrication, construction, concrete subs, and extra had been introduced into the design course of early. This method speaks to Farmer Payne Architects’ openmindedness, not solely avoiding bringing any pre-conceived concepts to a website the place they don’t belong, but in addition searching for artistic options by exterior teamwork. Within the case of Avalanche Chalet, the work of Maxwell Structural Design Studio, the undertaking’s structural engineer, was pivotal.
Although structurally similar to metal and concrete, CLT is lighter, and thereby lent itself to the undertaking’s daring aesthetics, amongst that are jaw-dropping cantilevers. Certainly, the house’s giant wood panels are constructed into the adjoining bedrock, anchored by a metal superstructure and a concrete base. In affixing the construction to the land, the location’s steep slope was remodeled from hindrance to helper.
Avalanche Chalet by Farmer Payne Architects, Solar Valley, Idaho| Photograph by Gabe Border
In the meantime, this distinct design method — embracing pure challenges fairly than combating them — led to a constructing that was not solely secure, but in addition presents an area for elevated residing. For instance, the beautiful outside patio areas set the home aside from typical chalet design in avalanche-prone areas. An outside residing space at residence’s rear is anchored by a 22-inch-thick (55-centimeter) concrete avalanche wall that delineates a personal entertaining haven.
“For Avalanche Chalet, we peeled the home away from the avalanche wall/hillside, and we had been in a position to present lined outside area on the back and front,” Aaron Belzer, an affiliate at Farmer Payne Architects, explains. This design transfer was half of a bigger planning and articulation technique that concerned rotating the house’s whole quantity to offer expansive views of the close by Bald Mountain while permitting the construction to be enclosed with floor-to-ceiling glass sliding doorways connecting to varied outside areas.
To have protected outside patio area and such unbelievable views in a undertaking like this — that’s, one with such a sophisticated website — isn’t any small feat. The truth is, “all the homes on that avenue are constructed on the hillside with no home windows on the again of the home, using a really one-sided design,” the designer provides. Tucking the constructing fully into the hill would have been the standard method, however, exemplified by the attractive outside area, the choice to deviate from custom paid in dividends.
Avalanche Chalet by Farmer Payne Architects, Solar Valley, Idaho| Photograph by Gabe Border
In the meantime, although the undertaking’s location in an avalanche zone could have influenced lots of the materials selections, it definitely didn’t decide them — the designer’s daring design method takes structural necessity as a leaping off level for growing a site-specific design language. For instance, although the usage of concrete was virtually inevitable, the selection to depart it uncovered was not. From the within to the surface, uncovered board-form concrete evokes the sensation of a extra conventional wood chalet in a recent design language, rhyming with the character grade white oak ceiling inside.
Equally, although the mountainous risks of avalanches could have knowledgeable the structural logic, on the opposite aspect of the identical coin, the spectacular views had been additionally main informants for the architects. Key programmatic selections, similar to pushing public areas upstairs whereas leaving the entry on the decrease stage, led to a shocking staircase set alongside the board type concrete wall.
The undertaking’s inside, designed in collaboration with Suede Studio, incorporates a boldly darkish trendy aesthetic that contrasts dramatically with the encircling white slopes: “We needed to focus on a robust connection between inside and exterior areas,” the agency states. So, in collaboration with the home-owner, they opted to make use of white oak for the flooring, ceiling, soffit and cupboards, sourced from Henderson, close by in Boise, Idaho. This detailing resolution “supplies depth and speaks to the encircling views whereas additionally offering heat and distinction to the concrete and metal used within the materials palette.”
Avalanche Chalet by Farmer Payne Architects, Solar Valley, Idaho| Images by Gabe Border
The deft architectural expression belies the stunning undeniable fact that this was not solely the agency’s first time tackling a design able to withstanding an avalanche, but it surely was additionally their first time working with CLT. Engaged on the undertaking, they discovered the various advantages of working with the fabric. Particularly, it’s environment friendly set up was a boon to the development timeline; choosing prefabricated panels ensured that the roof was accomplished in a single afternoon.
To this finish, “each design element was totally thought out, even all the way down to the open internet trusses,” their staff explains. Likewise, the parallel chords, sourced from RedBuilt in Boise, Idaho, had been “deliberately chosen so the mechanical methods could possibly be simply accessed and put in.” Once more, all of those selections got here from an early resolution to attract on exterior experience although an in depth collaboration with Maxwell Structural Design Studio.
Avalanche Chalet by Farmer Payne Architects, Solar Valley, Idaho| Photograph by Gabe Border
The specifics of this design (the progressive engineering strategies in addition to the aesthetics) match into Farmer Payne Architects’ overarching architectural design method. The boutique residential structure agency, which has studios in Jackson Gap, Wyoming, Solar Valley, Idaho and Shreveport, Louisiana, demonstrates that the perfect designs are achieved by constructing robust relationships between creators, customers, planners, producers, engineers and builders.
The house’s daring aesthetics and performance embodies the Farmer Payne Architects’ agency philosophy; the way in which that their designs are extremely website particular, which comes with a fearlessness and an openness to experimentation and collaboration with exterior consultants to search out what works greatest for the consumer and website. The design staff put it greatest, saying: “It’s what makes our job enjoyable and fascinating day-after-day.” Certainly, their deep stage of engagement and pleasure within the course of is clear in constructed particulars of Avalanche Chalet.
To see extra of Farmer Payne Architects’ daring but timeless work, go to the agency’s in-depth Architizer profile.
This text was produced in partnership with Farmer Payne Architects as a part of an A+Awards particular function collection. The agency was named Finalist within the Greatest Small Agency (6-15 staff) class within the twelfth Annual A+Awards.
