There is a personal connection between Norman Foster and St Moritz that runs deeper than architecture. Foster has lived in the town for many years, and his presence is written into its buildings, most visibly in Chesa Futura, the distinctive shingle clad apartment building he designed in 2004. The Kulm Eispavillon is a rather different kind of project, less a new statement than an attempt to bring an old part of St Moritz back to life.
Built in 1905, the Eispavillon stood beside the Kulm Park ice rink and became part of the sporting history of the resort, hosting events during the 1928 and 1948 Winter Olympics. By the 1980s it had fallen into disuse and was eventually left to deteriorate. Foster took a personal interest in its restoration, approaching the Kulm Hotel with the idea of bringing the building back into use rather than allowing another piece of St Moritz's sporting history to disappear.
The restored pavilion opened in 2017, retaining the historic building while adding a new timber structure and grandstand around the ice rink. The new architecture is deliberately simple: large timber members, a broad projecting roof and an open relationship with the park and mountains beyond. It feels less like an extension bolted onto an old building than a piece of infrastructure that belongs to the place.
That was important to Foster. His architecture in St Moritz has consistently combined contemporary construction with local materials and Alpine building traditions. At Chesa Futura, 250,000 larch shingles wrap an unmistakably futuristic form. At the Eispavillon, timber and the scale of the new pavilion are used to connect a restored Belle Époque building with the landscape around it.
The result is not particularly interested in looking futuristic. It is more useful than that. In winter, the space returns to skating; in summer, the rink becomes a setting for concerts, exhibitions and events. Foster described the intention as creating a social focus for this part of St Moritz, and the architecture works precisely because it gives the old pavilion a reason to be there again.