The Swiss chalet book; a minute analysis and reproduction of the ...

i 4
INTRODUCTION
makes this observation: "You will be surprised if I tell you that
the chalets of the Swiss mountains are exactly the same as one
sees on the slopes of the Himalayas and in the valleys of Kashmir."
The illustration which accompanies the above quotation is
reproduced on page 17. The method of insulating from the earth
is that of "stilts" rather than that of waterproof "shoes." The
future consoles, brackets, balconies, balustrades, gables and wall-
beams, are here seen in their original simplicity.
The primitive chalet was all inclusive; that is, it housed not
only the human family, or families, but also those of the most useful
species of animals, together with their means of sustenance. A
glance at the accompanying plans on page 15 will demonstrate this.
A translation from Graffenried and Stiirler's "Architecture Suisse"
(1844) gives a glimpse of native chalet-building on the co-operative,
or community plan : ". . . the native, when he decides to
build, . . . secures a suitable plot. In mountainous regions,
as at Iseltwald, where cultivated land is rare, the cost is about 1^2
cents per square foot. In less valuable locations, the cost is about
a half mill per square foot. For the wood for constructing his
home, the builder, if he is poor, requests assistance from his
local government. Each community owns its forests, and where
these are not available, those of the state can be drawn upon
for the purpose.
"The timber having been selected, the friends and neighbors
assist the home-maker in his work, the understanding being that he
shall return the favor later by an equivalent service. The work
is ordinarily done in winter when the farmer is free from the
duties of the field and flock."
The early chalets were veritable fortresses in wood, their
walls consisting of barricades of tree trunks in tiers, one trunk on
top of the other, and notched firmly together at the corners, after
the fashion of the log-cabins so familiar in America. The foes
were by no means all human, as is evidenced in the case of stolid
chalets built on the heights at the rear of which a sufficient number
of trees have been left standing to form an additional protection
against avalanches. Their roofs, which were allowed to make
vast projections in many cases, were protected against the lifting
power of mountain gales by heavy, rough stones placed in rows on
top of them. In the twentieth century, these same constructive
motives persist, but their bulk is greatly reduced, the walls being
about half their former thickness, and huge projecting consoles
having become diagonal braces.