A mile-high refuge with peak architectural cred

Hikers have long since climbed the cloud-piercing peaks of the Italian Dolomites for the clean air and Unesco-protected views, then savoured their bragging rights from small wood shelters along the route. Nowadays, they may start climbing simply for the shelter itself. The new Rifugio Passo Santner – or Santnerpass Hut – is a galvanised-steel beacon planted 2,734m up the Rosengarten massif, accessible by foot only after a three-hour hike along the Santner via Ferrata or the Val di Fassa.

Bolzano-based firm Senoner Tammerle Architekten designed the 16-room A-frame to replace a popular, shabbier hut built in the 1950s, itself built to replace the 19th-century original shelter. And though it seems as if the architects eschewed vernacular wood and Dolomite stone for steel, the triangular truss frame and internal surfaces were designed in spruce, larch and maple. The outward-facing sheet-steel cladding was chosen to protect the new iteration against the (increasingly erratic) elements. Inside, the blond woods take over.

The uniform tones of the unfinished wood recede from the central mountain views, enjoyed from every room in the hotel up to the lounge on its peaked roof. The architects used untreated maple to design simple built-in furnishings like banquette seating and beds that tuck away privately in niches. They sourced minimalist chairs and tables and smooth, steely pendant lights to supplement the built-ins. The building integrates passive heating and cooling.

By its very nature, the hut had to be fully serviced, so it serves a full breakfast, lunches and snacks of dumplings and apple strudel, plus a four-course dinner menu for dinner for guests lucky enough to stay overnight and enjoy the rosy views at sunset. Every visitor hardy enough to make it in is welcomed with a celebratory grappa.