The restaurant is located in a ski resort in Sweden at the top of the Ramundsberget Pass in the Herjedalen Valley - at an altitude of 1000 meters above sea level, which dictated the name of the institution: tusen from Swedish translates as "thousand". The new restaurant has become part of the ski resort and at the same time it is a completely separate building, there are no other buildings nearby. It is surrounded only by mountains and trees growing slightly lower on the slopes.
The harsh northern nature demanded simplicity and conciseness from the architects of the Murman arkitekter bureau: their restaurant not only imitates the surrounding landscape, but, one might say, mimics it. It is no coincidence that the explanatory note to the project is filled with "lyrics": rocks, streams and trees occupy no less place in it than architecture and technology. The hand-made inclusion was not supposed to disturb the fantastic beauty of the landscapes and the poetry of the place, so the concept of the building envisaged the use of natural forms and materials from the very beginning.
The restaurant's configuration in the form of a truncated cone is borrowed from the mountains and hills, and with its cladding of raw birch logs, the building reminds of a hut or a wigwam - the simplest structures of a person living in close contact with nature. The latter dictated to architects not only the appearance of the object, but also construction technologies. So, due to the remoteness of the construction site from the roads, in winter, building materials were delivered on special machines for cleaning the ski track. In particular, therefore, the architects chose a prefabricated prefabricated frame for the building.
In the struggle to preserve the untouched landscapes, the architects did not forget about the functionality of the building. Its round shape made it possible to provide protection from the winds and a magnificent 360 ° view, and thanks to the unusual decoration of the facade, the building looks attractive all year round: in summer, a beautiful birch texture plays the leading role, and in winter it finds itself under a fluffy snow cover. The entrance, located to the south, precedes the courtyard courtyard - a sector carved in a circle - large enough for skiers and snowboarders to leave their equipment here.
The restaurant's interior had to combine both openness and intimacy. Its interior space is 340 m2 left as free and solid as possible. Two floors are connected with each other and are perceived rather as different levels of one large hall - the second, mezzanine tier is built on in the central part of the room, and from there the entire volume of the restaurant is clearly visible. On the ground floor there is a kitchen, serving area, toilets and a main dining room with tables arranged in a circle along
windows, as well as in the center of the hall. The second tier, where a beautiful curved staircase leads, houses a more intimate dining room, a technical room, a toilet and a service staircase.
The interior, like the exterior of the building, is emphatically laconic and restrained. It is almost monochrome, built on black-brown and white-gray tones, here and there shaded by warm orange splashes in furniture and decoration and flashes of fire in fireplaces. As conceived by the authors of the project, skiers themselves, dressed in multi-colored suits, will become bright spots on a neutral background. The walls of the restaurant are finished with birch plywood and birch bark, which, again, should work for the integrity of the "birch tepee" appearance.
From anywhere in the restaurant, visitors can admire the magnificent mountain peaks - thanks to the many Velux roof windows, panoramicly encircling the entire structure. The solid bottom row and the staggered windows of the two upper tiers provide a play of light, which architects compare to the effect of sun rays breaking through the branches of trees. Natural lighting is especially important in northern climates, where people are constantly experiencing a lack of sun. Therefore, with unusual sloping walls, Velux skylights have become almost the main functional and imaginative element of the building.
The long-term practice of using Velux windows in public buildings proves how much space gains with the right lighting arrangement. Likewise, in the Tusen restaurant, skylights create a bright and airy atmosphere, letting the majestic nature of the mountainous landscape into the cozy (and warm in winter) environment inside.
Have
“Super warm” Velux windows, specially designed for northern latitudes, have increased heat transfer coefficient and light transmittance in winter, and the Integra model has a remote control function that allows you to program and regulate the opening of the upper windows and sun blinds on them in automatic mode.
The main goal of the project - the fusion of the building with nature - would have been impossible to achieve without addressing environmental issues. The building was built according to the principle of "active house". To minimize the human impact on the environment, architects carefully selected construction and engineering technologies. The restaurant is located far from settlements, so it has autonomous water supply and sewerage systems. The drilling and treatment facilities were carried out by the same company that drove the foundation piles, a method that saved time and money. The restaurant is heated with a geothermal heat pump. Thus, this unusual structure harmoniously blended into the local ecosystem, which is much more than a simple imitation of nature. Anastasia Shestakova
