What’s up with Avoriaz next hotel ?

Recently, Gérard Brémond, the sole developper of Avoriaz real estate since the French ski resort inception, has been fighting hard to get his new hotel, “Le Téléphérique”, off the ground by December 2023. 

While his resort has always elicited plenty of comments, good and bad, most of them have been on the positive side of the ledger, as in many ways its architecture was always seen as innovative, and a welcome alternative to the housing projects developed everywhere else in the French Alps. 

Further, each building was meant to “blend” perfectly with its rugged and stratified cliff environment, for a totally distinctive look. Over the years, it’s been a steady source of revenue for Brémond, who will turn 84 this coming September and, I guess, would love to add a few more millions to his net worth. 

So to make a quicker buck, he’s fired the 86 year old Jacques Labro and his team, who was behind Avoriaz unique cachet, for a new fellow, ten years his junior, by the name of Jean Nouvel, whose surname means new in English! 

In response, Nouvel, whose work includes a few contemporary buildings in France, Spain and the Czech Republic, has concocted a rather horrible and uniform bloc supposed to, according to Gérard Brémond, “To be a large-scale project whose architecture must dialogue and break with the environment”.

It certainly does, but not in the way most Avoriaz lovers and home-owners would have liked. It’s ugly as hell and smell like a “quick-buck” to me (click here to see detailed views). There’s been some wrangling about it with the Morzine City Council, before the building permit was pulled last February. 

Sure, 450 extra “warm” pillows are not to be sneezed at by the municipality, but in my opinion this sad building is a step in the wrong direction as a far as architecture goes. 

Further, the land is owned by la “Société du Crôt aux Chiens” a real-estate trust made of a thousand of local households that is signing a 49 year lease with the developer and that is looking to get a long and good stream of income for years to come, so who could pass a great opportunity to make some extra money?

Sure, I’ll be the first to admit that its lower position on the “Avoriaz totem pole” in the chalet Delfour and the Petit Vatel's spots, makes the whole project looks like a low-income housing complex. I know, but in these days, those are in very high demand too!