This secret hunting cabin in the Alps of Switzerland is very definition of ‘cabin porn’. Designed to sit hidden among the Swiss alpine landscape, you could walk past the ANTOINE cabin a hundred times before realizing that what you’re actually seeing isn’t a massive boulder, but instead it’s a camouflaged hunting cabin. Log cabins are dope, I’ve been known to spend many a weekend throughout the Summer and Fall holed up in a log cabin building fires and trying my hardest to keep those fires contained within the fireplace.
But after coming across the ANTOINE boulder cabin in the Swiss Alps I’m no longer convinced log cabins are the apex of the cabin world. I think I’ve mistakenly been putting the log cabin p*ssy up on a pedestal, and I now believe that camouflaged cabins are actually the end-all-be-all of the cabin world.
Complete with a bed, window, stool, table, and a fireplace, the ANTOINE was conceived of as an architectural homage to one of Switzerland’s greatest authors, Charles-Ferdinand Ramuz. In his novel ‘Derborence’ the main character Antoine survives over seven weeks underneath the rocks in Switzerland’s alps before escaping and making it back to his village.
To pay homage to this iconic piece of Swiss literature the Verbier 3d Foundation commissioned this one-of-a-kind cabin to be built conceived of by architect-sculpture André Bloc and built by artists by André Bloc and Claude Parent. Below are 12 pics of what I’m ready to name ‘the world’s most rugged cabin’, and every time I look at these pics I have the urge to start up an indiegogo campaign to build one of these for the BroBible squad (and one that readers can rent). So, any takers if I were to kick up a crowdfunding campaign for something like this? Answers down below in the comments!
The press release from a-bureau is as follows:
The mountains have the power to call for feelings of fascination and fear at the same time. Switzerland has a strong tradition of observing the Alps, living with them, hiding inside them. The awe and the anxiety that this monumental landscape appeals is reflected in the writings of Charles-Ferdinand Ramuz, one of the most important Swiss writers. His novels, Derborence, describes the massive rock fall that covered the pastures of the valley of Lizerne in 1714. Antoine, the main character, survives seven weeks under the rocks before he manages to reach his village, and life.
ANTOINE is a tribute to the alpine experience and to the writer. The small wooden cabin, big enough for the life of one man, is hidden inside a projected concrete rock. Referring to the long lasting Swiss tradition of hidden bunkers, the project integrates the highly urbanised landscape of the Alps. Already described by the French philosopher Paul Virilio in 1975, military architecture conducted by principles of camouflage has, for long, fascinated the architects.
ANTOINE creates an alpine shelter, a precarious «Existenzminimum» somewhat subversive in its use where one can freely enter and hide. It contains the very basic architectural elements – fire place, bed, table, stool, window – but demands to the visitor some risk taking as the rock hangs literally on the rock fall field.
ANTOINE was a commission by the artist residency Verbier 3d Foundation. It was self-built in the village and transported to the high-altitude sculpture park. The 6 weeks residency allowed for the construction of what can be considered an inhabited sculpture that follows the tradition of architecture-sculpture described by artist André Bloc and developed physically by André Bloc and Claude Parent.
Check out more photos and information about the project over here on a-bureau.com!