Development of our towns and cities is a fact of life. It also extends to Alpine villages like Zermatt. I can’t remember when I last visited Zermatt and didn’t see the village’s skyline interrupted by at least one crane: the primary indicator of a building site.
Today’s first image is of a deserted and dilapidated building at Schwarzsee high above Zermatt. Even in its current state of neglect it still manages to retain character.
The second is a thin vertical slice of a new extensive building in the centre of Zermatt. This building delights me. It sits comfortably among older buildings, combining features of the village’s older styles with bold design elements such as this highly visible staircase.
If only all development was as sympathetic to its environment.
An alternative image of this staircase has been posted in ‘Wintry Reflections’.
LensScaper 
Love the contrast between the two structures but I’m certainly more drawn to the first building with only the one window shutter open. It has so much character. Terrific shots Andy.
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Thank you Edith. Yes, those open shutters and one nearly off its hinges caught my eye too.
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Great shots Andy! Love the first building and it’s character as Edith stated. Love your pov on the 2nd shot as well! Nicely done!
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Thanks very much Rich.
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Both great shots but i love that old building.
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Thanks Mark. I think the old building benefits from the wintry weather. On a benign summer’s day I think it would lose some of its character
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I think you can do an entire series on each of these buildings. They’b both wonderfully photogenic.
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Thanks Ken. Yes, there’s a lot of detail to be captured in both these buildings.
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Interesting contrast between the two buildings. I agree that the first one is a more appealing image. However, as comfort goes I’d typically rather stay in the second. Which I guess is why they built it. Still on some level there is a loss when a area becomes more commercial. If only we could have our cake and eat it too! By the way, I love the first one.
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Thanks Phillip. Thankfully there are still old areas of Zermatt that are untouched and preserved. A lot of the new building is infilling spaces between existing properties. But as to comfort – no contest there! Although the property shown would be pretty expensive, it is still possible to stay in Switzerland (and Zermatt) at affordable prices.
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These are wonderful shots, Andy. As much as I love modern architecture, I have to give the nod to the old, character-filled building. 🙂 Good stuff!
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Thanks Jimi. You’re right – old buildings acquire character with age
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Nice photographs, Andy! I’m particularly taken by the bottom fourth of the second one, where the reflected triangular peaks of the mountains echo the triangles of the window frames and the stairs. Also like the complementary colors of the little orange light in the blue stairwell. I don’t suppose you took another shot of just that area?
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Thanks Linda – good to hear from you. Well yes, I do have another image. It was impossible to fit the whole staircase into one shot, so I took two. I experimented with a photomerge but that made the resulting image ridiculously thin and tall and rather unsuitable for the Blog. I chose to publish the ‘upper two-thirds’ image. So I do have another image of the bottom section and I will take a close look at that and see what I can make of that on its own. Stay tuned – Something might emerge next week!
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