For the renovation of an old house in the small alpine village of Ormône in Valais, Switzerland, the architecture studio of Savioz Fabrizzi has maintained the building’s character by keeping all of its haphazard additions and expansions in place. Originally built in 1860, the house has a stone base that has been extended over the years with an additional floor in the form of a wooden structure on top of it, and a small room at the back. For this latest intervention, new walls had to be built and windows opened, thus adding another layer to the house’s history. Savioz Fabrizzi’s intervention unifies all of these elements by covering the exterior surfaces with a simple render, which has been removed in places to reveal the masonry beneath in the style of traditional "pietra rasa" plasterwork.

While appearing small to the eye from the outside, the Reynard/Rossi-Udry House is surprisingly spacious inside, with four bedrooms, a bright kitchen and a double-height dining area. The living room, tucked under the original wooden structure, is completely covered in wooden panels, while a long window offers a beautifully framed view towards the mountains of Val d’Hérens to the south. Two concrete slabs create different levels in the stairwell, allowing visual interaction between the occupants and separating the children’s bedrooms on the first floor from the master bedroom up in the attic.