# Morphosis proposes tallest building in Europe -- in the Swiss Alps

By [Brandon Donnelly](https://brandondonnelly.com) · 2015-03-27

architect-this-city, architecture, atc, athiscity, building, cities, design, europe, morphosis, swiss-alps, switzerland, tallest-building-in-europe, tower, uncategorized, urbanism, vals

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![image](https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/fd1ae6d3d57514e6ecc7931708bc842b.jpg)

A controversial design proposal for the tallest building in Europe has been [making the rounds online](http://www.designboom.com/architecture/morphosis-thom-mayne-7132-hotel-therme-vals-skyscraper-switzerland-03-25-2015/) over the past few days. Designed by [Morphosis Architects](http://morphosis.com/), the 381 meter-tall tower is being proposed in Vals in the Swiss Alps. 

And pretty much everyone seems to hate it.

When I first came across the design, I truthfully had to do a double take to see if it was actually a real proposal. But it seems to be. Everyone is writing about it.

Clearly there are some interesting tensions at play here. You have a hyper-urban building typology in a mountain town setting, but with materials that are intended to make it dematerialize into the landscape.

So I thought we could have a discussion about it in the comments.

Is a small mountain town the right place for the tallest building in Europe? Could it work as a one-off tower?

_Image: Morphosis Architects via_ [_ArchDaily_](http://www.designboom.com/architecture/morphosis-thom-mayne-7132-hotel-therme-vals-skyscraper-switzerland-03-25-2015/)

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*Originally published on [Brandon Donnelly](https://brandondonnelly.com/morphosis-proposes-tallest-building-in-europe-in-the-swiss-alps)*