GstaadLife

Everybody talks about it - here is a movie about it - the planned cultural center known as Les Arts Gstaad. After the jump you can read a translated article about the first planning phase which appeared in our sister publication, the Anzeiger von Saanen.

For years we have waited for someone to come up with a plan and the permission to do something with that old, run-down Hotel La Gare in Saanen. Over the past decade, various architects have tried to get construction permission to rebuild the Hotel La Gare but so far no consensus could be reached. Now Fabian Reichenbach of the eponymous architecture firm based in Gstaad believes he has the answer, and is trying again with what is described as a smaller more 'Saanenlike' project. Coming in midst of the Saanen renaissance, this one feels like it has a chance, so let's hope for some sanity on the planning commission because anything is better than the current eyesore. 

It's official: entire fox families have established themselves in the midst of our villages, and gamekeepers are asking the community not to feed wild animals. As an omnivore, the fox finds a plentiful buffet in residential areas, mostly in the form of compost heaps and outdoor cat food dishes. But the real problems start when humans, out of a misguided love of animals, feed the foxes.

 
The commune of Saanen and the fire brigade recently took out a rather curious ad in our sister publication, the Anzeiger von Saanen. They are asking homeowners to take down their Christmas/winter decoration - they call it the 'Grünzeug' which literally translated means that green stuff - because it can cause fires and is not safe to have on your chalet after it is dry. Well, it doesn't look nice either so please take that green stuff down and turn your roof lights off... Yes mommy!

From Monday March 14 thru Friday April 15 the main water pipes are going to be cleaned in Schönried, Halten, Unterbort, Saanen and Oey. This can cause water pressure changes, a temporary chloride smell, and shitty-looking water. The commune of Saanen assures us that the chlorine levels are in no way dangerous and that in case of brownish water you should just let it run until it gets clear again.

 
In Sunday's nationwide vote regarding new measures for tighter gun control, 20 of 26 cantons and 56.3% of voters rejected the proposal to no longer allow current and former military personnel to keep their weapons at home.  The table above shows how gun-mad Saanenland is, with over 77% of local residents in favor the keeping of weapons at home. Interestingly Geneva was one of the few cantons which voted in favor of the plan. There are an estimated 2 to 3 million guns in Switzerland (nobody knows exactly how many because there is no national registry of fire arms), and soldiers have been allowed to keep their weapons at home since World War II. This vote ensures that this militia tradition will continue, and will probably also mean Switzerland will maintain its place at the top of another less desirable ranking: the number one country in Europe for gun-related suicide.

Some of the architects involved in the reconstruction of old chalets along the Promenade in Gstaad have complained to the 'Bau-, Verkehrs- und Energiedirektion des Kantons Bern (BVE)' in Bern that the so-called Planungszone -- which imposes a freeze on certain types of chalet reconstruction in a defined area of central Gstaad -- is, well, illegal. So now there is quite some discussion going on about whether the commune of Saanen has been correct in the way they have handled things. More as we have it.

More than 100 years ago the viaduct of Gstaad was built - then with wooden scaffolding. Right now it is once again bedecked in scaffolding, this time for a renovation of its 114 meter-long, 30 meter-high steel span. It was a hot topic for quite a while - whether to renovate or build completely anew - but a petition by local residents and the federal office for building and permissions finally ended the discussion in favor of renovation.

In 1898, when the railway from Montreux to Zweisimmen was initiated it was actually not planned to run the line through Gstaad - it was supposed to go from Saanen straight up to Schönried. Can you imagine Gstaad without its railway? Seems impossible now but at that time the 5km detour was considered surplus to requirements. Well, after lots of back and forth and SFr 100'000 of intervention, the detour to Gstaad was made possible and in 1903-4 the viaduct was built. It is going to be a while though until it can shine again without scaffolding. After Easter they'll even be a two-week period where no service at all will be possible and passengers will have to avail themselves of a bus service. Well, good things take a while, hopefully it will look fantastic, and with its new "silent bridge" technology, Gstaad Viaduct will no doubt have the good folks of Neueret sleeping blissfully through the first run down to Montreux. Now if they could just be a little creative with the Christmas decoration: below, the town viaduct in Cortina d'Ampezzo.

From Monday October 18 until Friday October 22 2010 from 7h30 to 16h30 the road up to Chalberhöni will be closed completely for resurfacing work. During these times you can still get up to Chalberhöni by following the orange diversion signs from Gstaad on the Gsteigstrasse towards Feutersoey then right just after the Wispile base station and up over Eggli.

The long term architectural development of Gstaad is an issue on the minds of many right now, both in the local and guest communities. Last Tuesday May 25 2010 a meeting of the local council of Saanen took place where the new measures for the planning zone in Gstaad were presented. Architects designing the village's next generation of structures will be permitted to further develop buildings in central Gstaad, but they will be required to do so in a manner that preserves the unique character of the village. To that end, a new class of buildings has been established. These so-called "formative communal objects" can only be situated on the Promenade itself, and must embrace the preservation of the character, origin and diversity of the overall appearance of the village. If you read German, all the details are here.