Every now and then architects are inspired by the location where a building is to be built. Several of these awe-inspiring, eco-friendly and fully sustainable architectural marvels are seen atop mountains in Europe, serving as restaurants, observations posts and alpine retreats. These eco-friendly architectural wonders on mountaintops are meant to stand out and at the same time blend with their surroundings, providing a totally different approach on how nature and architecture could work together.
Timmelsjoch Mountain Pass Museum is 8,172 feet high up on top of the Timmelsjoch Toll Road. The rectangular museum looks about ready to tip over the mountainside off the Tyrolean border between Italy and Austria. It’s a homage to the pioneers that built the High Alpine Road and open only during the summer.
Monte Rosa Hut is a five-story environmentally friendly and crystal-shaped dwelling enveloped in silver aluminum. It is owned by the Swiss Alpine Club and located 2,795 meters up on Mount Zermatt near Valais, Switzerland. Its foundation is made entirely from stainless steel while the spiraling interior is made entirely of wood. Ninety percent of its power is from the sun and the melting glacier is its main water source. It will soon become a research institute for efficient use of resources and energy.
Evolver is a spiraling wooden structure 2,536 meters near Lake Stelli on Mount Zermatt created by second year architecture students from Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne. The structure gives visitors a 720-degree view of the lake and the beautiful mountainside, with an ever-changing panorama as the visitor go up the building.
Restaurant Tusen in Sweden won first prize in the 2009 World Architecture Festival in Barcelona in the Holiday Category. “Tusen” is the Swedish term for thousand. It rises 3,280 feet above sea level on the Ramundberget Mountains in Sweden. It is a circular structure whose façade is covered with thousands of birch tree logs that were sourced locally, giving it protection from the harsh winds and snow from the mountains while giving diners a 360° panoramic view of the ski slopes below and the surrounding mountains. With the snow resting on its façade, it looks like a huge tribal structure rising out of the snow.
Alpine Capsule is a building that looks like a drop of mercury at Piz la Ila in Alta Badia, Italy, at an altitude of 2,100 meters. It is very shiny and reflective and a sustainable and self-efficient overnight shelter for skiers. It is encased in reflectively coated double glass skin, totally sun-powered and affords visitors that rare chance to sleep under the stars in cozy comfort and watch the ever-changing landscape of the Italian Dolomites with an uninterrupted 360° view from its fully transparent interior .
Norwegian Wild Reindeer Center Pavilion is built about 1,200 meters above sea level near the Dovrefjell National Park in Hjerkinn, Norway. It overlooks the massif of the Snøhetta Mountain. The rectangular structure functions as an observation post where visitors could observe the last of the wild reindeer herds in Europe, the rare plants and animals in the park, including the musk oxen.
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