St. Moritz, Switzerland, Is a Secret Haven for Stunningly Modern Architecture
Once you look past the idyllic pastures of Brown Swiss cattle crazing and the cyan-hued Lake St. Moritz, you’ll find that the star-studded town of St. Moritz has more to look at than just the scenery. Long a hotspot for the world’s movers and shakers (such as Alfred Hitchcock, John Travolta, and Robert De Niro), this Engadine Valley hub has also attracted a number of significant architects and designers who have made their Swiss mark in various ways.Sir Norman Fosteris one of the town’s biggest fans, but other projects by world-class architectural talents abound as well. Here are some of our favorites.
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Photo: Getty Images/Franck Decourt1/8Chesa Futura
A bubble-like take on traditional Swiss housing, Chesa Futura is another Norman Foster–designed building that emphasizes architectural features native to the region. Despite its modern appearance, the building is clad in timber, one of the oldest building materials, and elevated above the hillside to prevent the buildup of snowfall and thus wood decay. Chesa Futura,house of the futurein local language Romansch, overlooks the lake below.
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Photo: Courtesy of quattro BAR2/8quattro BAR
This mountain-top bar is perched high over St. Moritz in Corviglia. Set at more than 8,000 feet, the exclusive space was built by Audi (yes, the car company) as a marketing tool for the brand’s Quattro all-wheel-drive system. Created as a modern interpretation of a traditional Alpine ski lodge, Steiner Sarnen Schweiz AG designed the building, while Munich’s Schmidhuber handled the interiors.
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Photo: Courtesy of Nigel Young/Foster + Partners3/8The Murezzan
Another Foster + Partners design, this project combines commercial retail space with 60 residences. By restoring the two existing buildings on the site—the Albana Hotel (1907) and Posthotel (1908)—Foster + Partners created a new complex that still draws on traditional Alpine architecture, incorporating elements like sgraffito plaster and bay windows. The architect used the building’s original plans to restore the original neo-Gothic windows and proportions of the space.
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Photo: Getty Images/Olaf Protze4/8Kulm Country Club
It’s well-known that Pritzker Prize–winning architect Norman Foster is a fan of St. Moritz, but his most recent work in the town was a true labor of love. Foster and his team took on the total renovation of the 110-year-old Eispavillon in Kulm Park, part of the historic five-star Kulm Hotel. The Eispavilon was key in the 1928 and 1948 winter Olympics held in St. Moritz and re-entered the spotlight in 2017 as the site of the 2017 World Ski Championship. Today, thanks to Foster’s ingenuity, visitors to Kulm Country Club can dine on the stylish new restaurant’s sun terrace, while ice skaters enjoy the adjacent natural rink.
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Photo: Getty Images/Olaf Protze5/8Ovaverva
This sprawling recreational complex combines wellness and gastronomy with outdoor activities and retail space, all set into a beautiful package. Designed by Bearth & Deplazes and Morger + Dettli, the building was meant to be bright and welcoming while still blending seamlessly into St. Moritz’s natural landscape. The glass-fronted pool area has expansive views of greenery, while a fourth-floor private relaxation room has a stunning view of the Kurpark and the Maloja Pass.
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Photo: Getty Images/Ralf Macher/EyeEm6/8Parkhaus Serletta and St. Moritz Design Gallery
More than just a parking garage, St. Moritz’s brutalist-inspired Parkhaus Serletta is also home to the St. Moritz Design Gallery. More than 30 illuminated glass display cases house rotating works of valuable posters and photographs, lining a pedestrian corridor that leads visitors down to Lake St. Moritz. The collection is open to the public 24 hours per day.
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Matthias Hangst7/8St. Moritz Olympic Stadium
When Rolf Sachs bought St. Moritz’s Olympic Stadium, few knew what was going to become of the famed structure that had since fallen into disrepair. Using local pine and stone, the iconic furniture designer restored the structure, turning it into his family home in St. Moritz. "I am very connected with St. Moritz. I thought it was an iconic building that we absolutely had to preserve, so I thought to make a house out of it,”Sachs told CNN.
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Photo: Getty Images/EyesWideOpen8/8Cresta Run Clubhouse
虽然不是一个新的结构,Cresta运行的现代健身房bhouse looks like something you’d spot in a Steve McQueen film rather than on an alpine slope. The Cresta Run Clubhouse is home to the private, men-only St. Moritz Tobogganing Club, which hosts 30 races per year on the eponymous natural run. Caspar Badrutt, who then owned the Kulm Hotel, opened the run in 1885, although the clubhouse followed many decades later.
