At 3000m of altitude, the mountain hut is located in an environment of ice and rock. It is exposed to extreme weather conditions: powerful winds, violent precipitation, polar temperatures and extreme solar exposure. The project offers a minimal shelter to those who venture into this hostile alpine territory. It interacts closely with the sun, captures its warmth, conserves it and glorifies it.
“From solar to polar” is a low-tech, passive, self-sufficient device providing modest thermal comfort based on three principles: solar radiation, thermo-circulation and calorific accumulation. Its facade is divided into four segments: a Trombe wall to harness solar heat through the greenhouse effect, a glazed area to allow solar radiation to come into contact with the thermal mass of the floor, an opaque segment equipped with vertical sliding thermal shutters to limit heat loss at night, and a series of photovoltaic solar panels. The Ortho Gneiss of the site, with its ideal performance (thermal capacity of 1180J/KgK and thermal conductivity of 4.0 J/smK), is directly used as thermal mass. Following the principle of upward circulation of warm air, the programmatic layout is organized in successive vertical strata.
