Solstice Ridge House

Project Overview

At 2,600 metres the sun sits low for half the year and the roof carries snow for longer than it carries nothing. Solstice Ridge is planned around both facts. The living floor is lifted a storey above the ground so the winter sun reaches the back of the room, and the roof is a single steep plane pitched away from every entrance so snow never sheds onto a door.

The best thing about the site

The plot sits on a shoulder rather than a summit, which meant we could put the house below the ridge line and keep it out of the prevailing wind. It costs a little of the view northward and buys a terrace that is usable in February.

Creating Lasting Value

Everything here is sized for load rather than for looks. The frame is glulam at spacings a snow engineer signed off, the glazing is triple with warm-edge spacers, and the whole envelope is airtight enough that the heating plant is a third of the size the local rule of thumb suggests.

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Key Features

• Living floor lifted for low winter sun penetration
• Single steep roof plane, shedding away from entrances
• Glulam frame sized to alpine snow loading
• Triple glazing with warm-edge spacers throughout
• Airtight envelope allowing a third-size heating plant
• Sheltered terrace sited below the ridge line
• Boot room and drying room on the arrival level
• Local stone plinth taking all ground contact

Built Around Lifestyle and Opportunity

The house is occupied hard for four months and lightly for the rest, so it had to be safe to leave. Water can be drained down from a single point, the heating drops to a frost regime on its own, and every external opening can be shuttered from inside in under ten minutes.

Project Summary

Solstice Ridge is a building designed by its climate rather than decorated to suit it. Sun angle, snow load and wind direction set the section, and the plan followed.