It gleams, is magnificent and looks uncannily like it, but it is ten times smaller than the real one: a 1:10 scale model of the new Monte Rosa Hut. Currently standing in the main hall of ETH Zurich’s main building, it was modeled on the real hut, which was inaugurated over 2,880 meters (9,460 ft.) above sea level, high above the Grenz and Gorner Glaciers, at the end of September 2009.

The model is the centerpiece of the Monte Rosa Hut exhibition, which has been on display in the main hall of ETH Zurich’s main building since February 24 following a vernissage in a packed Audi Max the day before. The exhibition was organized by ETH Zurich’s Institute for the History and Theory of Architecture (gta) in conjunction with ETH Zurich’s Monte Rosa Studio headed by Andrea Deplazes, ETH-Zurich professor of architecture and construction.

Light tables at your feet

Light tables quite literally at your feet illustrate the genesis of the hut and its complex construction process. They feature brilliant, large-format photographs and construction plans that are illuminated from below and show how the acclaimed high-tech chalet sprouted from the seed of an idea and what steps were necessary in terms of its design, planning and construction.

The model of the hut displays the internal and wooden supporting structures, the arrangement of the solar cells and, of course, the unusual shape of the new Monte Rosa Hut. The shape, as Andrea Deplazes explained at the vernissage, was neither a fluke nor a design gag; it is the result of a quest to find the highest degree of stability for a building way up in the mountains, the tightest possible packaging for the interior and the best possible utilization of the sun’s light and heat. The media even christened the hut “the mountain crystal”, he says. The design, however, was based on an orange cut tangentially from several sides to create the extraordinary shape and the simplistic layout of the rooms.

Book on the landmark

A book entitled “New Monte Rosa Hut SAC. Self-Sufficient Building in High Alps” has also been brought out to coincide with the hut and the exhibition. On over 220 pages of conversations, thematic contributions, photographs and plans, different authors, including numerous people who were involved in the project, document the genesis, planning and construction of this high alpine building. The book also contains an outline of the history of alpinism and an overview of the development of the Monte Rosa area, from the first simple hut to high-tech accommodation. The photographs on display in the exhibition were also used for the book. A 26-minute film documenting the construction and genesis of the building in moving images is also available on DVD.

Anniversary project finally over

The new Monte Rosa Hut is one of 50 projects to mark ETH Zurich’s 150^th birthday. The project was developed in close cooperation with the Swiss Alpine Club (SAC) with the aim of designing and building a sustainable hut. The construction cost a total of 6.5 million francs, 2.15 million of which was defrayed by the SAC. The rest came from various sponsors and benefactors, with Holcim, energy company Alpique and the Swiss Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN) leading the way. In all, over 40 sponsors invested in the construction of the chalet. After a construction period of only five months, the building was handed over to the SAC for service at the end of September 2010. The chalet opens its doors to mountaineers on March 10 of this year.

The book is also available from the Polybuchhandlung. The first 25 readers from ETH Zurich to purchase it there by March 11 will receive a 10-percent discount.

Exhibition and book on new SAC Monte Rosa Hut

Wednesday, February 24 – Thursday, March 25, 2010.
Monday to Friday: 08:00 – 09:00h Saturday: 08:00 – 16:00h
Closed on Sundays and bank holidays.
Main hall, Center, ETH Zurich, Rämistrasse 101, Zurich.
Public tours Wednesdays on March 3, 10 and 17, 2010. Main hall, 18:00h.

Book: New Monte Rosa Hut SAC - Self-Sufficient Building in the High Alps. ETH Zurich (ed.). 2010, ca. 220 pages, gta publishers. Zurich. ISBN 978-3-85676-273-5. Available also in German and French.

DVD: Der Bergkristall – Die neue Monte Rosa-Hütte SAC. Zehn Baugeschichten, DVD, ETH Zurich, 2009, 26 min. Orderable from the gta-Verlag; order no. 20102