The Sasso Nero mountain hut designed by Stifter + Bachmann is placed in a slight and natural depression of the mountain at 3,026 m above sea level near Ahrntal, South Tyrol, Italy.
The architectural footprint in the landscape is very small, as the hut touches the ground below only along narrow strip foundations that are anchored in the rock. Stifter + Bachmann stacked the schedule of accommodation in six levels that bend slightly at the top and the bottom. Cooking and eating are at the ground floor level, the drying and services rooms are on the first and second lower levels, while the sleeping accommodation is on the three upper storeys.
The sloping façades are entirely clad in copper sheets and seem to be shaped by the glacier, the wind and other climatic conditions. In the interior the new mountain hut resembles a large piece of furniture that can be lived in. From the restaurant at the ground floor with a ribbon window that runs the entire way around the dining the guests can enjoy a 360° panoramic view of the surrounding mountains. In contact with the solid rock the two basement levels were realized with prefabricated concrete elements whilst the structure of the upper floors, the furniture and the wall-facings inside are made of local wood.
