Our client came to us with a brief to provide a 7 bed open plan chalet for their family to grow with into the future. The site nestled into a valley overlooking Samoëns, had an original application approved but the client acquired a neighbouring plot with the potential to build a chalet across both plots that followed the site topography more closely and reorient the principal facade to make the best of the views whilst also providing space befitting to their initial brief.

To minimise the scale of the project we used the storey change to carefully hide away ancillary spaces and two guest rooms at a lower level, without losing the connection with the outdoors and daylight, by means of a terraced landscape. The main form of the chalet mimics the neighbouring properties and local scale of farm houses, but to meet the brief's space requirement we added two additional ‘extensions' to form a prominent entrance/garage and family living space that projects to the side of the main building to minimise over looking to neighbours and create more private outside spaces.

Internally, the main living area is fully open plan with a large masonry chimney that cuts through the whole structure, linking the circulation spaces and allowing warm air to rise to the bedroom levels above via a double height dining space. The middle floor provides 4 family bedrooms with en-suites, using additional roof space to create maisonette levels for future grandchildren. The circulation space between bedrooms looks down onto the dining area connecting family life. The top floor is a private master suite which is again divided by the intersecting masonry chimney flue to form a back to the bed space, referencing the living spaces below, whilst providing a modern but rustic feature to look out from at the wide framed panoramic view to the Giffre valley below.