These clients inherited an ancient farmhouse on the route up to Samoëns 1600 ski resort and they wanted to create a ski chalet for all the family to use. At 1100m altitude the farmhouse was semi-detached and built on a precipitous cliff edge which meant that two facades were extremely difficult and dangerous to access for building work. The clients wanted to keep the integrity of an ancient farmhouse and at the same time incorporate modern elements such as large areas of glazing and open plan living layouts. To limit the visual impact on the heritage of the ancient farmhouses in the hamlet some of the large, glazed panels were covered with vertical wooden boards with equal spaces between them to give the appearance of cladding. This is a finish known locally as claire-voie. From the outside the wood matches the rest of the external wood finishes and from the inside you still have views and privacy. All internal walls in the stone base and the wooden top of the farmhouse were removed which left a shell with which to rebuild. The clients’ focus was on the importance of living spaces maximising on the glorious mountain views. The design was configured to have all bedrooms and bathrooms within the stone enclosed ground floor and all living areas within the wooden barn. The ground floor consisted of four bedrooms (one with ensuite bathroom), a family bathroom with separate wc, and large entrance area with stairs to the floor above. The barn was a large open plan living area, opening to the exposed roof with roof windows and containing a lounge, dining, kitchen, games area with pool table, internal balcony on north façade, wc and shower room, and mezzanine snug. *