Susan Chesney Interiors Designs a Home Where Minimalist Architecture Meets Enveloping Comfort

This week’s instalment of the Project of the Week series features a minimalist residential design by 2025 SBID Awards Finalist, Susan Chesney Interiors.

This project involved the full interior design of a newly rebuilt 1967 ski chalet in Switzerland, grounded in a bold Brutalist foundation of concrete, blackened steel, and glass. The brief was to honour the clients’ love of raw, architectural structure while softening the interior to reflect both husband and wife’s tastes. Despite being a long-distance project, only two site visits were made over 22 months, minimising our carbon impact. The result is a striking yet liveable Alpine retreat—balancing strength with soul, and minimalism with warmth through considered materials and layered texture.

What was the client’s brief?

The client’s goal was to create a warm, enduring alpine retreat for family gatherings year-round, blending the chalet’s striking brutalist architecture with comfort, practicality, and understated luxury.

Susan Chesney Interiors collaborated closely with the client and a Swiss–Italian architectural team to ensure the interiors and architecture evolved in harmony. A key creative challenge was bridging the gap between one stakeholder’s love of minimalism and the other’s desire for cosiness — resulting in a layered design that is visually calm yet deeply inviting.

The project vision was to create a year-round alpine home where minimalist architecture meets enveloping comfort — a space that satisfies two distinct aesthetic sensibilities while delivering connection, craftsmanship, and a sense of belonging.

What inspired the design of the project?

The client’s lifestyle inspired the design, as they were sporty, grounded, social and nature-loving. The architectural integrity celebrates the chalet’s brutalist form with natural, tactile finishes. The chosen palette includes natural oak, exposed concrete, inky blues, mossy greens, aged brass, natural stone, and warm plaster tones. The architectural details include black steel staircases that punctuate the interior, bringing a graphic contrast to the warm, layered materials. The design is influenced by mid-century alpine modernism and European craftsmanship. Minimalist clarity is softened with textural warmth — cocooning for the ski season, airy for summer.

What was the toughest hurdle your team overcame during the project?

The remote aspect of the job and the logistics of deliveries up narrow mountain roads.

What was your team’s highlight of the project?

The final outcome! The client was absolutely delighted when it all came together.

Why did you enter the SBID Awards?

We entered the SBID Awards to showcase the collaborative spirit and design integrity of Project Laax — a brutalist 1967 Swiss chalet reimagined as a year-round family retreat. Working closely with the client and a Swiss–Italian architectural team, we bridged one stakeholder’s love of stark minimalism with the other’s desire for colour and cosiness. Proud of our achievement, we wanted to share it with the SBID community as a mark of craftsmanship, context, and enduring style.

What has being an Award Finalist meant to you and your business?

Being an SBID Award Finalist is both an honour and a proud milestone for our studio. It recognises the creativity, technical rigour, and collaboration behind Project Laax — uniting stark minimalism with colour and cosiness while honouring its brutalist heritage. The recognition has strengthened our credibility, opened new collaborations, and created valuable press opportunities, while giving us a moment to celebrate the craft and detail behind this alpine family retreat.

Questions answered by Susan Chesney, Creative Director of Susan Chesney Interiors.