Plans for a 381m high luxury hotel tower in a sleepy Alpine village have just been unveiled – and the designer is convinced it will fit right in. But is it any more than a castle in the air? [...]
The new hotel tower, designed by Pritzker prizewinner Thom Mayne’s practice, Morphosis, will shoot up 381m into the clouds (almost a third taller than the Shard), a looming spectre visible for miles around the tiny alpine village. It is a gigantic mirror-clad middle finger aimed at the region [...].
— theguardian.com
33 Comments
Beware..... Thom Mayne might be trolling the blogosphere and Twitter OMA style.
if this is for real he should be castrated with a T-square
It's gotta be a hoax. Morphosis' work really doesn't relate to this at all..... Though many critics seem to have taken the bait. Maybe he's trying to dupe his LA nemesis....
horrible. Curtain wall sucks...its soo terrible its ...its ...beyond words
Paint the fucker green.
Or maybe Thom Mayne is an alien with invisibility technology a la the Predator
Am I the only one who likes it?
No, apparently ascot_circle on Archdaily likes it:
"I .... I love it. I've soaked up in Vals before and I think this would be an incredible place for a point tower.. it would still be dwarved by the mountains. Where else in the world could you do something like this? Turn the sharp corners in that pristine valley with deadly drop-offs and then suddenly 'BLAM'.. a massive people structure! Just coat it in UV reflective coating so it doesn't become a bird graveyard."
Or are you also ascot_circle? If so, you MIGHT be the only one. Well, the developer probably likes it, too!
No, i'm not ascot. I don't have multiple names.
this is the worst piece of architevture in the history of architecture including all the walmarts and taco bells.
Doesn't it seem like there's a new "worst piece of architevture in the history of architecture" like every week?
Am I the only one who likes it?
Pretty sure Mayne likes it too. As far as he's concerned his shit doesn't stink either.
Do it and see what happens.
Did anyone else notice the highest room rate of almost $26,000 a night, lowest $1,000 a night? The Zumthor vacation house can be had for $5,000 for 7 days during the high season.
Miles, You talk about poop a lot.
I love it. I wonder if it'll be on Orbitz?
FOG said 98% of architecture is shit.
Morphosis' work is actually good usually--complex if a little shoddy on the details. There is just no way Europe's tallest skyscraper will be built in the Alps. If this isn't a hoax, then I will renounce my membership in the architect community and become a country musician.
Maybe its a negotiating strategy. Highballi the world of armchair critics with something extremely radical, then compromise with something less radical.
Haha haha... They banned the minarettes in Switzerland. Now this. Ban the tall hotels too? Alps are tall mountains and deserve tall buildings. It will be booked full. Peter is proposing an ink blot looking building in my city. Karma is a dog from Los Angeles.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2856674/Justin-Bieber-s-dog-Karma-allegedly-thrown-second-story-balcony-dad-Jeremy-fit-rage.html
a pilgrimage destination for the meditative transformed into a luxury hotel amenity... this density of wealth added right next door -- aside from the massing and context, the vals will be swamped. Bummer to have planned a trip there during construction... or any time after.
"Haha haha... They banned the minarettes in Switzerland. Now this. Ban the tall hotels too? Alps are tall mountains and deserve tall buildings."
Sorry, Orhan, but this is nuts. The Ahwahnee Hotel in Yosemite is booked nearly year round. Why not build a 600 foot tall hotel tower next to the Ahwahnee in Yosemite Valley?...it'll be booked full, garanteed. Just because you can do something doesn't mean you should. There are places for man to enforce his will, and places where man should tread very, very lightly.
I don't think this is a hoax. If it is, it's a very believable one...this is exactly the kind of perversity that I think would would appeal to Mr. Mayne.
Now I see why the jurors of the project renounced it. Comparing this to Zumthors LACMA is another lazy journalistic comparison. Zumthors proposal fits LA and the site ... Obviously inspired somewhat by Latin American modernism, specifically Niemeyer. Driving under and walking through would be cool. This tower doesn't understand its site at all, obviously,
Just because you can do something doesn't mean you should.
Exactly. Because I can is never a good justification for anything. This applies to most starchitecture produced today.
As opposed to "because I can't", which applies to most architecture in the US.
it looks like this
so perhaps I did indeed dream a Mies van der Rohe like glass tower in an Austrian Village, or does it exist, or was there a proposal, thinking this memory was formed like 2-3 years ago... I could model and draw the thing its so vivid, not sure why I can't find it...
I approve of this tower as long as this is the entrance to the Penthouse from one of the mountains.
^ the ONLY entrance. No elevators.
Great photo, looks like a safety strap attached to the helmet.
orhan, so now architects are doing revenge buildings like some kind of tagging war. Zumthor is 1000x better than mayne.
+++olaf
I just got my airbnb invite for the first night!
Bloomberg has more information about this situation. Below are some interesting bits:
"For it to come to fruition, the local zoning ordinance probably will have to be revised and the canton will have to give its approval, according to planning experts, including Heinz Beiner at Zurich-based Planpartner. A green light may even be required from the federal government, and citizens could also challenge decisions in court. "
"The Vals project is 'marketing,' architecture critic Benedikt Loderer said in an interview with the newspaper Tages-Anzeiger, published earlier this month."
good thing Swiss laws and policies are not up for sale and the citizens get to vote in this kind of issues.
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