Paul Flora, graphic artist and illustrator from Glurns, drew cartoons for Die Zeit for about 25 years. His life centred around Innsbruck, but Glurns always remained a point of reference for him. Thus it was his wish to be buried here in 2009. There is a permanent Paul Flora exhibition in the church gate tower.
Watles E-Trial
For all motorsport enthusiasts, children and adults, we have our brand new E-Trial Parcours right next to Valley Station. On this "playground", young and young-at-heart acrobats on two wheels - or rather, mostly on one wheel - can really let off steam, practise and learn. Beginners can also try out this sporting challenge - and will probably acquire a taste for it very quickly.
Meadows surround the freestanding detached family house on the outskirts of Laatsch, a stones throw away from Mals. This unusual, singular building simply needs a certain amount of empty space around it, in order to allow a full appreciation of it. The view of both of the church towers in Laatsch heightens the contrast with the village. The mainly enclosed upper floor houses the bedrooms in a square layout, which encompasses the living rooms below with glass facades. With its far-reaching white glow, the “box” made from concrete seems to sway over everything and projects upwards from the slender supports. In order to provide the glass ground floor with some privacy freestanding stone walls typical for the area were built a short distance away from the house. Such a house makes one self-conscious of one’s living conditions.
The listed Grünen Baum Guest House lies directly on the main square of South Tyrol's smallest city. The ground-floor guest rooms are not part of the renovated hotel, which is housed on the upper floors and are the focus of this text. Here you will find the stylishly paneled rooms of the restaurant, which have preserved everything of value and consciously integrated new elements. Historical rooms are furnished in a modern style and new rooms contain some antique furniture. In the individually designed guest rooms, interaction with history is key, and is displayed through a focus on style and sensitive taste in decor. Bathtubs and showers sometimes stand alone in a room and convey an informal, friendly atmosphere in a very traditional way.
Since 1980 we create habitats, so that you feel comfortable. Different floors and the best materials give the living space and its furnishing the certain something. Whether simple, modern, classic, elegant or exclusive: we offer you expert advice as well as a skilful and timely execution of your ideas.
Beneath the glowing white walls of the Marienberg Abbey lies the somewhat dingier Fürstenburg, built from regional stone in 1278. A collapse of the castle’s keep in 1996 brought about the renovation, including a restructuring and extension, which was carried out in two phases. It began by securing the historical parts of the building and extending the home wing with modern fixtures made from steel and glass in order to provide the old stonewalls with more light transparency. New schoolrooms in the mountain were then constructed outside of the curtain wall to accommodate the increasing number of pupils. It appears from the outside to be a wall one story high made from the same dark stone as the castle. On the inside, the courtyard has been modernized with structural components made of glass and steel and there is a new section of building work climbing up the mountainside, covered in earth and plants. From something old was born something new.
In the industrial area of Glorenza/Glurns, the 13-meter-high cubed Puni Distillery stands out like a kasbah from an alien world − a symbolic landmark. It was the architect's ingenious idea to house all the technical equipment, as well as the sales area, and service rooms inside a brick cube, which was designed according to the system of the old, air-permeable brick walls of a rural barn. The stonework thus has a transparent effect, from the exterior and interior alike, and continues down into the basement, where the sparkling-clean fermenting vat and alembics can be found, a massive vault construction. A convincing uniformity in the choice of materials alludes to the clarity of this distillery’s products – the first to distill whisky in Italy. All the glass-and-steel details have been developed with as much as focus on quality as was the brick construction.
At the foot of Churburg Castle, the historical focal point of the village, an old farmhouse has been converted into a museum where the once-meager farming life of the Vinschgau Valley is documented − a lovely counterpoint to the feudal world of the castle. In the basement and on the first floor there are spaces for special exhibitions. In keeping with this use, the structure of both farm buildings has been retained and enhanced with typical regional materials. Larch wood, traditional exterior plaster, glass and steel were used so that its contemporary use is expressed through fittingly modern details. The existing load-bearing structure was combined with today's architectural components so that a homogeneous unit reflecting both tradition and modernity could arise, which shows much of the artistic potential of the Vinschgau people in a timeless way.
In the center of Mals there was a plot of land for a free-standing building. Block-like brick buildings with windows cut into them and often without an overhanging roof are typical for Mals. The architect adopted this structure and designed a building in three parts with different levels. The middle part acts as an opening and is covered in larch wood boards, while the other two buildings attached to this are plastered white and have uniform, regularly spaced windows. This succinct language of form takes into account the details of the entire building. The shape of the building is clearly structured with the central entrance, so that the citizens can easily find their way inside. The community hall on the upper floor has a special entrance. The interior spaces are marked by white walls, light wood and overhead lighting in the corridors.
The sunniest and most sought-after cross-country skiing trail within the Ortler Ski Arena alliance, is located between Schlinig and Schliniger Alm, and offers 15 kilometers of trails and a vertical drop of 150 meters. The village of Schlinig built a service center for it, with a ski-waxing facility, changing rooms, toilets and equipment rentals. This single-story building matches the development of the village in both size and materials used. Covered entirely with vertical wood sheathing, the wagon looks like a cog railway into which you enter sideways. The incline of the roof and shape of the building take up the slope gradient. The entrances to the five functional units open onto a covered vestibule on the valley side, while the opposite side is provided with suitably tiered horizontal windows – as a result, the entire complex is integrated into the hillside in an ideal way.
The school building forms part of the village-renewal concept, with public revolving around a new village square. The village center is consolidated onto this piazzetta, with the school, gym and the Schwarzer Adler tavern as the headquarters of the associations; the buildings are separated only by narrow passageways in the gardens and schoolyard. The scale of the new school building is oriented towards the existing volumes of the buildings in the village. It is a solid masonry construction with gabled roof, rough plaster facades, and finely smoothed window embrasures that, with their bevels, take on architectural elements of the nearby Engadine Valley. The construction avoids rigid blockiness through varying roof pitches and the soft inflection of the facade along the street space. The large window openings show interiors with fine woodwork and color accents, furnished in a way that is downright cozy.
After recent renovations this dormitory offers places to 75 boys and girls, mostly students at the sports high school. The well-equipped building, with all features and a two-story house chapel building, initially met with strong local criticism because of its rigid shape and the building material – concrete, in accordance with the Swiss models of the time. Gradually, however, the insight prevailed that the architect struck upon an essential aspect of the feel of the Vinschgau Valley landscape with this design and that the cube-shaped building, which has a certain ascetic restraint, creates a dialogue with the towers of Malles/Mals. Over the course of nearly half a century, the building has proven itself functional and is also solid from a construction point of view, down to the last detail, even if much of its concrete has lost its original gray silky gloss with aging and has become darker.
Burgeis had managed to maintain its village-like character up to the present day. The traditional Weisses Kreuz Hotel lies centrally on a very small piece of land. The extensions and conversions, including its spacious spa area and new suites, have been admirably incorporated as part of the hotel, they sensitively take into account the survival of historical aspects. Zum Löwen, situated opposite, also belongs to the hotel and was renovated and reconstructed. The building was skillfully extended, the new extension now being home to a bistro and shop. This transformed the square with its fountain into a real village center. The listed facades of both houses were kept, as were the beautifully paneled rooms in the Löwen: all new buildings show the fitting of a modern hotel and are designed to be the best in modern architecture by the use of sustainable materials.
Situated opposite the station, the central culture house is easily accessible. But the busy federal road that runs between the two creates a significant problem in terms of pollution. A solution was found in true urban development style, with the four well-structured blocks of the building enclosing a courtyard and the highest, windowless side facing the street. This is helped by a high wall made from the typical stone from the area, which also incorporates the buildings of the former primary school with its historical architecture into the modern exposed-concrete complex. The inner courtyard is also the protected heart of it all. It can be used as an additional room for events, with tiered seating. The spacious glass rooms open up onto this courtyard and offer a beautiful transparency in contrast to the enclosed space.
Even from far away, the bright white abbey perched on a hill above Burgeis catches the eye. Founded in 1000, it has been one of South Tyrol’s most important spiritual centers since the twelfth century. “Ora et labora” is the Benedictine motto and also the name of the museum housed within the former farm buildings. The old walls were cleaned and stabilized to this end, left largely in their original state and expanded by a second level of modern interior design. While the walls remained rough and unplastered, new mountings of glass and dark steel were placed in front of them and at a distance − so that the changes between the late thirteenth century and today are easy to deduce. The artworks and exhibits shed light on the monastery’s development. Upstairs, guest areas and seminar spaces have been created as well.
