Chesa Futura

Location: St. Moritz, Switzerland

Architecture: Foster & Partners, London with Architectural Bureau Arnd Küchel, St. Moritz

Centuries-old tradition and ultra-modern computer-aided design – the Chesa Futura apartment building created by Norman Foster in the years 2000 to 2004 in St. Moritz, Switzerland combines the two.

Standing completely on stilts, this fascinating building appears to rise like a bubble with wide windows pointing south. Despite its exalted styling, it succeeds in blending with its natural environment. Thousands of shingles made of larch wood turn the facade into a practically indestructible skin, as this renewable raw material is one of the oldest and most durable materials produced in the region. Only the intentional silver-grey tinged effect of the larch wood testifies to the time which has past since the building was completed. In every other way its impact is the same as the day it was completed.

Norman Foster set a whole new standard with the Chesa Futura: Intelligent choice of materials, precision workmanship, durability to last over decades, integration into an existing environment and a language of form which is derived consistently on the basis of technical need. All aspirations which applied equally to the building communication system chosen for the project.