Apartment House Alpenrose

Façade

Piazza Gottardo is ringed by impressive structures. Across from the majestic Radisson Blu Hotel Reussen and the Gotthard Residences are the apartment buildings Alpenrose and Edelweiss. Both of these buildings feature a rather striking, extroverted architecture. Alpenrose was designed by the architecture firm Baumberger & Stegmeier, based in Zurich. Its most noticeable feature is the brilliant colour of the façade. The colour scheme was inspired by two historic buildings in Altdorf: the Tell theatre and the Tell monument. Both structures are also worth a visit.

Shutters

Alpenrose recounts history and stories. On each side of the façade, a historic alpine painting was rendered on the building’s shutters. If you look closely at the shutters, you can spot details of the paintings. But by design, only individual elements of the historic artworks were painted on the shutters. As a result, an entire image is never recognisable on any one of the shutters alone. This technique prevents the building from being perceived as an Advent calendar with little doors. Take some time to study the shutters closely. Then you’ll spot individual objects like cliffs, animals or people here and there.