PROJECT FACTS
Function: winter refuge, snow groomer garage
Location: Kafla (Iceland)
Year: 2024
Type: international competition – shortlisted project
The place of the planned ski cabin is defined by a beautiful hilly landscape, where also an industrial area has taken place (Krafla Power Plant). Nowadays the service buildings of the ski slope are too small and unattractive to solve the needs of the skiers, so the buildings are worth to demolish. The wished program causes a bigger edifice and it makes sense to settle the new building on the place of the demolished ones. The new building stands between the existing parking and the ski lift and it became a gate to the directions of the mountains. Because the relatively small space requirements of the building it is not necessary to design a multi-storey cabin and a ground floor house solve also the questions of accessibility. The parking and its existing road connection can be kept in its original place and they do not need any further improvement, because the main goal is, that the area became natural as natural as possible.
In the Icelandic climate it is worth to design a compact bulding, which can give a shelter for the users against the wind, snow and cold. Inside the simple compact volume the main designated spaces are distributed by the surrounding view. The leisure spaces (rest and warmth area, self-serve refreshment station) are orientated to the South and to the slopes and the volume looks like a pavilion with the porch around it. The porch is at the same time also the viewing deck. The service area (toilets, changing room, garage for the snow groomer, check and tuning, equipment storage) is the biggest unit under the big roof and it is orientated to the North and to the Krafla Power Plant. The info point is a bit bigger than as in the program defined, but it can be also the lobby of the building and the “gate” to the ski slopes. The large overhang of the roof makes a protected area around the whole building against the snow.
The facades of the house are covered with untreated larch plank, which is protected by the large overhang of the roof. Window- and door frames, garage door, and the eaves are clad with row aluminium, a really weather resistent material. The base is made of rought concrete with a timber formwork. The flat roof is covered with local soil and local moss grows on it. The wood constructions (walls, pillars, beams and ceilings)in the inner spaces remain visible and it has a natural, cozy and warm look. The floor has a polished concrete surface. Like in many North-European countries there are many built-in furnitures inside the building: the seat banks, the lockers, the kitchen cabinet and bar table would be made of larch and it has a slight colour difference to the timber structures. The wooden window frames are painted in red and all mobile furnitures are in blue.
The main construction materials of the ski snow cabin are the concrete base and the wooden walls, pillars and beams. The concrete base is made in-situ, but the wooden construction could be prefabricated and it can be put together in situ. Concrete gives the building a resistent fundament and wood has its advatages about sustainability and the high percent of prefabrication. It is worth to work with solid timber constructions (solid wood wall and ceiling panels, beams and pillars), because the construction has a massive more heat storage capacity than at a light constuction wall and the physical properties are also better.
ADAM BALOG 