This hut, owned by the Swiss Alpine Authority, was designed by professors and students of architecture and eco-design from Lucerne University and ETH Zurich (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology).
The crystal-shaped building is designed to make sunlight spiral inside while redistributing thermal body heat from occupants to heat the lodge naturally. It combines a wooden interior with an aluminum and glass shell to reveal amazing views of the Gorner Glacier.
Excess energy from the solar panels is stored in valve-regulated Lithium-phosphate accumulators, which provide power in darkness. Water is produced from melting glaciers and collected and stored in a large reservoir 40 meters above the hut.
It is partially used as a research station and an example of how energy and resources can be used efficiently. If you book, you get all the good stuff for a pleasant hiking experience. Dinner and breakfast are included in the price, as is tea for your thermos the next day to get you started.
Photo credit: Tonatiuh Ambrosetti
The hut is situated at 2883 m (9,459 ft) above sea level on a sloping rock plateau known as the "Untere Platte" at the northwest foot of the Monte Rosa massif.
Monte Rosa is encircled by the four-thousand-meter peaks of Castor, Pollux, Liskamm, and the Monte Rosa massif, which includes the Dufourspitze. To the west, the hut provides a view of the Matterhorn.
The hut can be reached in three to four hours of challenging hiking marked by white-blue-white signs from the Rotenboden station of the Gornergrat Railway. Crampons and ropes are essential for crossing the glacier. As the Gorner Glacier retreats gradually each year, the route becomes even longer and more difficult. So, a day trip to the hut requires a great physical condition.
To commemorate the 150th anniversary of ETH Zurich, the "mountain hut of the future" was constructed about 100 meters above the old Monte Rosa hut. After approximately six years of planning and two summers of construction, the new Monte Rosa hut was inaugurated on September 25, 2009.
The building's shape minimizes its exposure to wind and snow
Five floors were built on a 16-m-diameter (52 ft) octagonal reinforced concrete base, offering space for 120 overnight mountain climbers and scientists.
The bedrooms feature trapezoidal mattresses that follow the shape of the body (wider at the top, narrower where the legs are) to minimize wasted space.
3920 Zermatt, Switzerland
