The 380-meter hotel designed by Tom Maine and his Morphosis bureau will replace the existing spa hotel built in the 1960s. The developer is the current owner of the "thermal" complex Remo Stoffel and his company 7132 (these four digits make up the postal code of Waltz). Initially, the complex of the hotel and baths belonged to the local commune, but the demands of its development made it necessary to sell it. At the end of 2012, candidates for potential buyers - Stoffel and a consortium led by the author of the famous "term" project Peter Zumthor - were voted on by local residents, and Stoffel won these "elections" by a large margin.
One of his steps as the new owner was to increase the prices for using the baths: now their services are available only to wealthy clients. Stoffel adheres to the same policy with regard to the future hotel: despite its 82 floors, there will be only 107 rooms at a cost of 1,000 to 25,000 francs per night.
This is due, among other things, to the fact that the tower will be very slender - 15 mx 30 m: such a silhouette and a mirrored facade will help it merge with the alpine landscape. The total construction area, however, will be 50,000 m2, and the budget is 300 million francs. Stoffel's co-investor is Pius Truffer, the local quarry owner. The building, in addition to rooms with panoramic views, will include a front entrance area and lobby, spa and fitness centers, cafes and restaurants, a “heavenly bar”, a banquet hall, an exhibition gallery and a business center. Truffer and Stoffel believe that their hotel could become one of the top five in the world.
Of course, a significant part of these claims rests on the unique position and configuration of the building: a 380-meter skyscraper in the mountains, at an altitude of 1252 meters above sea level, seems surprising, if not absurd. He has already sparked a lively debate in Switzerland and beyond. Among other things, the Alps are an earthquake-prone area, and high-rise construction there can be risky business. In addition, experts' doubts were caused by the very invasion of such a large building into the beautiful landscape of the Valls Valley. Meanwhile, Peter Zumthor refuses to comment on this plan at all.
The procedure for appointing an architect also looks ambiguous. During the competition, a jury chaired by Louise Hutton (Sauerbruch Hutton) and with the participation of Vittorio Lamnunyani selected three finalist projects (Main, Stephen Hall and Bureau 6a), but none of the three seemed worthy of victory, since each had serious flaws … As a result, the customers independently awarded Maine the victory, and the jury members publicly disclaimed any responsibility for this choice.
Meanwhile, the future hotel, also known as The Woman of Waltz, is not Stoffer's only ambitious project. Tadao Ando designs for him the Waltz Route park with an area of 5 football fields and a budget of 2.86 million francs, which should complement the skyscraper, harmoniously fit into the landscape and respect the Zumthor thermal complex - at least this is the intention of its author …
However, it is important to emphasize that, despite the decisiveness of the investors (they plan to open the hotel in 2019), the tower project may well remain on paper. In Switzerland, all important architectural projects, as well as other key decisions, are voted on by citizens, who often reject them. For example, this was the end of the project
concert hall for Basel by Zaha Hadid. Given the scandalous nature of Stoffer's plan, it is quite possible that the residents of Valls will say no to him at the voting scheduled for fall 2015.
