Location: Andermatt, Switzerland.

Architect: Studio Seilern.

Restaurant Gütsch is a new first-class gourmet restaurant located in the Swiss Alps, at an altitude of 2362m above sea level. The restaurant will cater to both daytime skiers and dinner guests from the valley based Grand Hotels. The challenge of the project was to create a design that caters to both client groups, developing two separate restaurants under the same roof. The 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, where several pitched roof houses sit against one another to form a cluster of stone walls and roofs nestled in a mountainous landscape. The project took inspiration from the carved stone sculpture Horta de Ebro (Homage to Chillida) by Manolo Valdez. The restaurant will be made out of local stone and made up of several pitched volumes sloping upwards. The large windows will offer panoramic views over the valley of Andermatt, whilst the timber-lined interior walls offer cosy comfort. The short construction phases and the different access to the site forced the development of a prefabricated system of modules, which will be mounted on site. The project will feature a concrete walled structure, clad in local stone with a timber roof. The large South-facing terraces will create a further interplay between the lightness of timber and the heaviness of the stone façade. By propping the terraces on slender columns they are read as a light ribbon wrapping the base of the buildings.