Experimental Châlet Val d’Isère by CHZON
Experimental Châlet Val d’Isère sits at the foot of the slopes in Val d’Isère, France, where CHZON turns a 113-room hotel into a rich alpine narrative. The project riffs on American lodge imagery, Savoyard craft, and the daily rhythm of skiing to build a contemporary mountain spirit that feels both graphic and grounded. Guests move through rooms and lounges shaped by forest textures, ski-inspired curves, and familiar materials used with easy confidence.
Snow piles against the stone base while dark timber balconies catch the high mountain light. Inside, deep colors, tactile textiles, and ski-shaped silhouettes pull guests toward the windows.
This is a very large hotel, yet it reads as an intimate chalet once inside, where textures guide the eye as much as the views. Experimental Châlet Val d’Isère in Val d’Isère, France, by CHZON, explores a contemporary mountain spirit through its interior palette and furnishings. Every room, corridor, and lounge leans on forest imagery, ski gear, and Savoyard references to give the architecture a precise, lived-in character.
The project counts 113 rooms in the heart of the resort village, at the bottom of the slopes. CHZON treats this scale as an opportunity to test variations on a theme, working with slate, concrete, wood, and lime plaster as recurring notes. Bed headboards, door frames, cupboards, and bathroom furniture extend one visual story: an American-style lodge translated into a French alpine context, with logs, branches, and stonework as familiar anchors.
Forest Motifs Inside
The studio names “the spirit of the forest” as its architectural system, and that idea runs through the rooms in tangible ways. Bed alcoves are flanked by carved wooden elements that recall tree trunks or log ends, with rounded profiles that soften the compact volumes. Upholstered headboards in deep rust, moss green, or warm neutrals pull forward from pale walls, giving each room a clear focal point and a sense of shelter. Around the stoic stone fireplace in the common areas, benches and woodwork share the same language, tying the lodge-like core to the guest floors above.
Ski Lines As Ornament
Val d’Isère is a demanding, sporty resort, so CHZON folds skiing into the palette with humor and precision. Mirror frames echo the curve of ski spatulas, turning a practical surface into a recognizable mountain object. Table legs made from slices of ski poles introduce small circles of color under side tables and desks, connecting furniture back to the slopes outside. A custom “ski” coating on walls recalls the long, wide traces carved into snow on the Face de Bellevarde: lime plaster is worked into bold, relief-like strokes that catch sidelight and deepen shadows.
Rooms Framed By Views
Guest rooms keep layouts simple so material choices and scenery can do the work. Large windows and balcony doors frame the surrounding peaks, while built-in banquettes under the glass double as seating for reading or après-ski drinks. Patterned upholstery in blues, reds, and geometric motifs wraps these benches, giving a vivid counterpoint to the white peaks just outside. Floors shift between warm carpet tones and soft neutrals, grounding beds dressed in crisp white linen and solid throws that echo the darker woods.
Tradition Reworked In Detail
Savoyard traditions run quietly through the project, translated rather than reproduced. References to wooden chests passed from father to son appear in chunky bedside tables and cabinetry, often with graphic inlays or robust handles. Carved wooden motifs that once marked bread for the communal oven inform small decorative imprints and hardware, adding a tactile layer at the scale of the hand. In bathrooms, snow-white marble walls, tile floors with dark accents, and vivid red vanities keep the story going, while a spa room in muted greens and patterned flooring folds comfort into the alpine narrative.
In the lounge, long teal sofas line the perimeter around low, reflective tables that catch the glow of warm pendant lights. Guests settle into this deep, upholstered room before stepping back into the sharp air outside. From the stone threshold to the highest guest room, Experimental Châlet Val d’Isère uses color, craft, and familiar mountain objects to keep that movement between interior warmth and snowy slopes legible and memorable.
Photography by Mr. Tripper
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