Amsterdam designer Jeroen van Mechelen of Studio JVM has created a vaulted, cardboard guest room inside a villa carved out of a mountain in Vals, Switzerland.

Called Hidden Lines, the angles of the cardboard panels are defined by radials from the circular patio and the contours of the mountain.

These were converted into two vaulted rooms and the resulting profiles transferred to the 40mm cardboard panels, then CNC-cut.

The design was inspired by a medieval painting and incorporates a guest bedroom and bathroom.

Here's some text from the designers:

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This design for a special cabinet creates a guesthouse within a newly designed villa that was carved out of a mountain wall in the village of Vals in Switzerland.

This special villa, designed by the renowned architectural firm SeARCH in collaboration with Christian Müller architects, has only one visible element which is an elliptical patio, manifest as a circular hole in the steep mountainside.

By materializing the invisible lines that define the very conditions of this house (the contour of the mountain, and the radials of the patio) a 3-dimensional cardboard matrix is created.

Two typical chapel-like volumes are carved from this matrix.

The cavities created are the bedroom and bathroom now enveloped by a 3 dimensional library cabinet.

The idea was inspired by the medieval painting 'St. Jerome in his study' by Antonella da Messina.

Above: the invisible lines - the contour of the mountain and the radials of the patio

Like this painting, the cardboard-carved "inverted chapel" becomes an autonomous space, which -like the mountain house-reversed- materializes in the genius loci of the house.

Above: the painting that inspired the design, St. Jerome in his study by Antonella da Messina

Lightweight cardboard sandwich panels were directly CNC-carved from the design files. In 2 days the cardboard space was simply pieced together by the design team.

Credits:

Project: Hidden Lines, a cardboard cabinet
Design: Jeroen van Mechelen, Studio JVM
CNC Carving: Nedcam b.v.
Design Villa Vals: SeARCH in collaboration with Christian Müller architects.