Making mountain huts future-proof – consistency analysis to improve adaptation and resilience of the mountain hut network

Mountain huts form a continuous network throughout the alps. Originally built as a support for scientific exploration, it continues to serve as a vital resource for mountain visitors, maintaining much of their original form. Over time, the motives driving people to visit huts diversified, encompassing sport activity, tourism and scientific research. This trend has led to an increasing number of people visiting the mountains. Concurrently, aggravating environmental changes in the Alps, with average temperatures increasing almost twice as fast as the rest of the northern hemisphere, increase frequency of natural hazards, such as landslides or avalanches. These developments raise the risk for mountain visitors while threatening these delicate ecosystems and their built environment. Mainly built before 1980s, mountain huts need to adapt to these dynamic social and environmental changes. The characteristics of huts and their surroundings are different from urban settings, requiring a specific renovation framework that considers all these peculiarities. This article explores the state of the art of this architectural typology, investigating a cluster of 749 mountain huts owned by the Italian Alpine Club (CAI), studying their management methods and the most recent approaches on alpine huts renovation. This study aims to analyse the unique architectural typology of mountain huts with an interdisciplinary approach, considering the feasibility of technical aspects while accounting for environmental, economic, and social parameters. This will be the baseline to establish measurable criteria to aggregate existing alpine infrastructure and to finally create a comprehensive guideline for functional sustainable renovation and ultimately to increase the climate adaptation and resilience of the alpine built environment.