Designs on the chalet

Skiers in the Swiss resort of Zermatt can now opt to stay in some truly stylish accommodation. And it's all thanks to one man, says Stephen Wood

These are the rules of skiing. When in a resort you will stay in a bland, modern replica of an Alpine chalet, in a room whose windows are too small to let the mountain scenery get a look in. You will eat the same over-rich food as the locals who – before the days of Polartec fabric – had to create a "base layer" with their own fat. And you will dress in clothing of colour combinations so garish that you would not dream of wearing them elsewhere. Why must you follow these rules? Because they form part of the traditions of skiing.

Nothing much can be done to overturn the last rule because skiers seem so willing to comply with it – to the point of continuing to wear shiny nylon salopettes in shades of purple that have a near-emetic effect. (Respect to snowboarders: apart from the odd slogan T-shirt and the funny hats, they are sartorially beyond reproach.) Some progress is being made with regard to the Alpine menu, thanks to the spread of pizzerias and the advent of a few sushi restaurants, which go about as far as you can get from steak and raclette. And the accommodation? Here I can report solid progress, at least in the Swiss resort of Zermatt.

With a heritage of almost a century of skiing, and a history of mountaineering – prompted by the nearby Matterhorn – which goes back a further 50 years, Zermatt is not short of tradition. But over the last dozen years it has been building a new image. It now has some of the most innovative and exciting accommodation of any ski resort in the world, thanks to a local designer and artist called Heinz Julen.

Born 38 years ago in Zermatt and raised in a wooden farmhouse in the Sunnegga ski area that his great-grandfather built in 1900, Julen started building at an early age, creating huts on the mountainside while still a child. By his mid-teens he was building houses with his father, August, until the latter – as he explained to me – "saw that he had better hands than me... so I told him, 'You do it.'" The younger Julen's creative skills in design and sculpture were self-taught: he did spend one winter at art school but was advised (so his father told me) that he would be better off developing his ideas on his own.

He got the chance to do that on a large scale at the beginning of the 1990s, when a building the family owned down in the village (where they spent the winter) burned down. Given the basement of the new building in which to fulfil his desire to make an exhibition space, Julen created the Vernissage, an extraordinary cinema/gallery/nightclub with the feel of a converted Manhattan loft. It opened in December 1991. For what had to be a flexible space he designed the furniture and fittings, including his Cube chair-in-a-box, inspired by the flight cases used by musicians to transport equipment. He wanted more of that, and so did others. "People would see my chandeliers and ask me to make one for them," he says. So the next step was to build a house. "I wanted to create a house in which I designed everything, including the doors and windows."

His View House, opened in 1994, stands above the main street, towards the southern end of the village. It has four separate apartments available for weekly rental, one on each floor; and it provides the most remarkable ski-resort accommodation I have seen. Perched up on the hillside, accessed by a lift that stops at each apartment, it affords a spectacular panorama (hence its name) of the eastern side of the valley, stretching 180 degrees from the Matterhorn round to the tracks of the railway running out of the village.

Huge windows let as much of the view as possible into the apartments. Their interiors blend hi-tech and artisanal materials (mainly galvanised steel and timber), and the fixtures and fittings display Julen's mix of craft and wit. The chandeliers are made from plumbing equipment (similar designs appear in most of his projects, which must have doubled plug-chain sales in Zermatt); the cupboard doors have closures seemingly based on those used for traditional French shutters; much of the furniture is made from what look like scaffolding poles. The effect is utterly singular, but the apartments are beautiful, comfortable and not unreasonably priced.

The success of View House spawned similar if slightly more restrained buildings offering accommodation for visiting skiers. Julen designed the nearby Coeur des Alpes, a hôtel garni (breakfast is served, but not other meals) owned by his sister Leni and her husband, a fashion designer. Another sister, Moni, married the four-time World Cup skiing champion Pirmin Zurbriggen; Julen also worked on their Apparthotel Zurbriggen ("self-catering", although the term hardly does justice to the stunning apartments) at the top of the village. (The third sister, Vrony, runs the excellent Chez Vrony restaurant, whose premises are the old family farmhouse, which has also benefited from Julen's subtle attention.)

Among other Julen buildings, one houses the Haus Matt penthouse chalet, which the Oxfordshire-based Ski Company offered in its brochure this season. Unfortunately the property – with characteristic epic windows and touches such as kitchen cabinets with old spoons used as handles – has had to be withdrawn because of problems with the lift.

Julen's biggest project (and "the biggest catastrophe of my life," he says) is also not open for guests: his oddly named Into The Hotel building, just below Haus Matt, stands unfinished. Work on the £20m project was halted by a dispute between Julen and the financiers, who have drastically redesigned the interior.

The success of the other developments has, however, had a noticeable effect on Zermatt's architecture. Windows are getting bigger; exterior profiles are veering away from chalet pastiche; and the commercial value of good design is being recognised. The small Chalet Genepy, offered this season by Total Ski, is a very smart conversion of a 19th-century wooden house: large windows have been set into side walls and the roof, and the airiness has been increased by cutting away part of the top floor and inserting gangways. Local architect Heinz Polazzo's design mixes new pine with old timbers; and the decor has a simple, Scandinavian-chalet flavour. Unsurprisingly, the chalet – a far cry from the traditional knotty-pine enclosure – has been heavily booked for this season.

View House: two-bedroom apartments from Sfr550 (£250) per night (00 41 79 235 1727; www.viewhouse.ch). Apparthotel Zurbriggen: one-bedroom apartments from Sfr310 (£141.50) per night (00 41 27 966 3838; www.zurbriggen.ch). Coeur des Alpes: doubles from Sfr200 (£91) per night (00 41 27 966 4080; www.coeurdesalpes.ch). All rates for winter low-season. Three-bedroom Haus Matt from The Ski Company (01451 843 123; www.skicompany.co.uk). Four-room Chalet Genepy from Total Ski: from £699 full-board per person per week based on two sharing, incl flights and transfers (08701 633 633; www.skitotal.com)