Betriebsgebäude der Alp Puzzetta

You could call Puzzetta the "red alp". From head to toe, the four new building parts, arranged one after the other like stairs, are wrapped in red aluminum. Only the windows and doors protrude silver from the metal shell. A little off the beaten track, but in the same style, is the barn for the alpine pigs.  The colour red, which is otherwise rarely used in the area, is intended to draw attention to the alp and set an accent. On Puzzetta, located near Fuorns in the Val Medel, right on one of the routes up to the Greina, modern architecture meets a traditional use: goat summering.

Marlene Gujan and Conrad Pally, the architects of the Alp, have remained quite traditional in their design. Because the model of the Puzzetta is very close: the Ziegenalp Stgegia, also renovated with the participation of the architectural firm from Curaglia, below the dam wall on the Lukmanier Pass. Stgegia is also adapted to the terrain in four parts and like stairs - just like Puzzetta.The four-part division makes sense: it corresponds to the work flow of the alp. Twice a day, the shepherd drives the currently about 350 goats to the new building, where they are first brought in groups to the uppermost part, a shelter. From there, the animals get to the second part, the milking parlour for 44 goats each. The milk obtained flows on to the third part of the building, the cheese dairy. And at the bottom of the fourth part is the Sennhütte with an attic room that could also serve as a night camp for hikers. The bulkhead from the dairy finally ends up as fodder in the pigsty standing off the beaten track.

The use of aluminium as an outer skin also makes sense: the weather on Puzzetta is so harsh that the timber frame building, which is hidden under the red shell, needs a protective coating to be able to withstand wind and weather. The wood comes from the valley, as does water and electricity for the farm: At Péz Ault, a new spring has been tapped for Puzzetta and a turbine is also being operated with it.