View on the Alps

View on the Alps

“Rascard” are buildings typical to the Ayas Valley but also found in the Valtournanche and Gressoney Valleys. They are made of squared and stripped pine, fir and larch logs, notched together at the corners. These buildings were once exclusively used to store cereals and were designed to prevent humidity and rodent intrusion.

With the progressive depopulation of the valleys, these handmade buildings have been dismissed and many of them look abandoned. The independent region of Valle d’Aosta includes this special kind of construction into a list of buildings to be preserved by the “Sovrintendenza per i beni e le attività culturali”*.

The restoration of country Rascards is then encouraged, even if commuted to a residential use. The only requirement is to preserve the original exterior look and the constructive typology.
The object of this project is a Rascard located in the Valle d’Ayas, above the village of Champoluc.
The customer request is to have at least one bedroom on the ground level, together with the pre-existing living room, kitchen and one bathroom.
In the attic floor they request a guest house quarters accessible from the interior.

The project allows keeping the original exterior by replacing the damaged beams. The interior walls will be built with XLAM and fixtures made of larch that will help with higher thermal insulation.

Entering the building you access a living room/kitchen area. The kitchen will be made of larch.  The stove in granite will host a putage**.
Traditional wooden benches will be positioned along the dining table to convey a space saving look.
The living room will have a small couch with a stone covered wall. A wooden suspended fireplace will be the background to all of it.
The living room glass wall, facing the mountainside hosts the little ladder which give access to the upper level.

Particular attention is requested for the bathroom. Customers want a large sized room with bathtub and view on the valley.  Bathroom fixtures are hidden behind a wooden wall which recall the exterior pattern of the Rascard.
The sink, small in dimension rests directly on the floor, side to side with a local stone wall coating and internal wall made of XLAM. The bathroom objects will be staying on a family cabinet currently under restoration.

In the end, the bedroom will be made entirely with walnut wood, also with a stone coated wall, behind the master bed.
All the lighting will be done with LED headlights. Due to landscape preservation restrictions, solar panels will not be used.

*  Governmental commission for cultural heritage preservation
** old fashioned rural wooden stove

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