The new Gütsch Restaurant will be the heart of the new ski region Andermatt in the Swiss Alps, placed on top of the mountain at the arrival point of three cable car lines. It will be a first class gourmet restaurant, attracting both daytime skiers and dinner guests from the valley based Grand Hotels.
The challenge of this project was, therefore, to create a design that caters for both client groups, developing two separate restaurants under the same roof. The project offers the opportunity to work on a dramatic site on 2300m altitude, on top of the Alps. Our concept plans to create a landmark that is as robust as the dramatic setting of the landscape. The new restaurant will be designed as a contemporary “hameau”, a Swiss hamlet.
The project took inspiration from the carved stone sculpture by Horta de Ebro by Manolo Valdez. Made out of local stone and reflecting the silhouette of vernacular Swiss villages, Restaurant Gütsch will cater both for the aesthetic and the climatic challenges of a unique site. The wide openings will offer panoramic views over the valley of Andermatt.
The site sits at 2362m above sea level on the top of the Gütsch. Two ski stations are being constructed on the Gütsch Plateau as part of the masterplan for the new Andermatt-Sedrun ski arena. The 6 man chair lift is complete with an 8 man gondola to follow at the end of 2017. The roof structure is unique to each volume and follows the diagonal slope of the buildings.
A series of beams span the entirety of each volume and define the characteristic of each unique dining room. The ancillary spaces are a maximum of 3m in height to allow for the beams to soar past and complete the volume. Source by Studio Seilern Architects.
- Location: Andermatt, Switzerland
- Architect: Studio Seilern Architects
- Area: 900 sqm
- Altitude: 2360m
- Status: Complete in 2019
- Images: Courtesy of Studio Seilern Architects