OFIS Alpine Shelter

Whilst living perched precariously on an alpine cliff top isn’t something that immediately appeals to us here at Coolector HQ, you’ve got to applaud excellent architecture and design and that’s exactly what we’ve got on our hands here with the magnificent looking Alpine Shelter from OFIS.

Teetering in the Kanin Mountains above the small Slovenian town of Bovec and surrounding by some of the countries top ski resorts, the OFIS Alpine Shelter offers something differently entirely and the minimalist design and angular features immediately make it stand out and we’re mighty impressed with the abundance of well thought out, clever design features that make this structure what it is.

Mountain Retreat

The objective of this project was to study the architecture necessary to withstand some of our planet’s most unrelenting and full on weather conditions and, in order to do this, OFIS airdropped their Alpine Shelter into Slovenian’s Karin Mountains to see how well it would fare.

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Working heavily alongside structural engineers – a necessity given the undoubted buffeting it would receive from the weather – the Alpine Shelter from OFIS Architects is a small, compact but surprisingly stylish and well designed piece of architecture that would be impressive in its own right and not just a means of checking how certain types of architecture react to differing weather conditions.

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Whilst it looks incredibly small, the Alpine Shelter actually has sufficient square footage to sleep nine people seeking respite from the brutal snowstorms and wind that beset the Karin Mountains for half the year. Divided into three resting platforms on the inside, combined with an imposing window to the front of the cabin that delivers, quite frankly, mesmerising 360-degree views of the valley beneath the mountain and into Italy and Slovenia beyond.

Remote Design

The Alpine Shelter from OFIS is only accessible via helicopter or hiking up there yourself and the lack of amenities it has means that it is only a shelter from the weather conditions and not somewhere that you can book for your next skiing adventure.

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It is an excellent example of the architectural talents of Slovenian architects OFIS and a great means of gaining a better understanding of how certain design principles will respond to unforgiving weather conditions. We don’t anticipate ever getting to the Karin Mountains here at Coolector HQ but, if we did, this is probably as good a view as you’re going to get.

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