Refuge of the future

Seen from the outside, this mighty crystal, the new Monte Rosa hut of the Swiss Alpine Club looks like something from another planet with its characteristic crystalline form and shiny aluminium surface. Solid wood, the structural material used for the building, dominates the interior. Here, high-tech and low-tech are combined intelligently and effectively. The building is a result of four semesters’ work by students at the ETH Zürich, where the director Daniel Leuthold once studied himself.