Storage was an issue, so she designed built-in drawers beneath the seat. In the angular south-facing living room, Notté remodelled the fireplace and window seat. The living room, with original windows but updated fireplace and window seat the leather Togo sofas are vintage (for new, try ), and for a similar Beni Ourain rug, try. This snowy cabin, nestled like a gingerbread house in the forest, followed a year later, and is one of Avoriaz’s first private homes. The resort’s first building opened at Christmas in 1966: the angular, pyramid-shaped Hotel des Dromonts, whose recently revamped interior still has a strong 60s vibe – all bright colours, cowhide pouffes and Egg chairs. Capitalising on the resort’s slightly gothic spookiness, a fantasy film festival was held here from 1973 for two decades, attracting David Cronenberg and Steven Spielberg. Every front door is ski-in, ski-out, opening to a piste down into the town the cable car carries you and your shopping back up again. Every structure is designed to optimise the sun and the mountain views. Photograph: Gaelle Le BoulicautĪvoriaz is car-free: buildings are connected by wide, ski-able paths through the trees people also get around by horse-drawn sleigh. The terrace with mountain views, and Mariposa, or ‘Butterfly’, chairs draped in sheepskins (find the chairs at scp.co.uk). The shingles facing south have turned a mink grey over the decades those facing east and west have warmed to a chestnut brown. They are clad in red cedarwood tiles, left untreated to weather with age. Apartments, chalets, shops and restaurants have steeply pitched roofs, to mimic the terrain and to avoid a buildup of the snow that blankets them at this time of year. Inspired by the work of Le Corbusier and Frank Lloyd Wright, their idea was to create buildings that reflected the mountain setting. He hired a trio of young, idealistic architects, led by Jacques Labro, then in his late 20s, and gave them free rein. In 1964, a visionary young developer named Gérard Brémond – the son of a rich industrialist, with a passion for jazz and film – wanted to create a glamorous, purpose-built resort in this hostile terrain, later nicknamed the “Saint-Tropez of snow”. Perched on a granite cliff edge deep in the French Alps, the ski resort of Avoriaz – accessible only by cable car – is an architectural gem.
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