Architecture contemporaine dans le Sud-Tyrol

The Messner Mountain Museum Ortles in Solda/Sulden is dedicated to ice and glaciers. The exhibition focuses on South Tyrol's most important mountain massif: the Ortler. In collaboration with architect Arnold Gapp, Reinhold Messner has created a unique museum, MMM Ortles is housed in a specially designed new building. The architect from Vinschgau managed to fit most of the museum into a small hill. Uniquely, the entrance was integrated into a natural stone wall and the folded walls of exposed concrete are modelled on ice crystals and ice caves. Inside, visitors can admire the world's largest collection of Ortler mountain paintings and ice tools from two centuries. The light is cast through a jagged band of windows onto the exhibits and will remind guests of a glacial crevasse. Ingeniously, the snow-covered peak of the Ortler mountain can be glimpsed at one point of the museum. The window acts as a picture frame so that the mountain is effectively "hung" in the exhibition.

Funes/Villnöß has managed to save itself from modern urban sprawl up until now. The rigorously modern architecture of the nature park visitor's center and elementary school, a design that had been set via an international competition, was initially very controversial. The result, however, has silenced all criticism. The cubic appearance of the two new buildings, with a flat roof above the Villnösser Stream, is well integrated into the village of St. Magdalena − this is true not only in terms of their size but also their color and the materials chosen. From the car park, you cross the stream along a very elegant, lightweight bridge and ascend between works of art to the two buildings, which have been set next to each other in a spatially sensible way. With a lively school and quiet nature park, this is a functionally differentiated place. Velvety wood and meticulous details await the visitor inside − all of the very best quality!

Together with planners, the inhabitants of St. Martin have developed the center of the village within the context of a participative program, in order to strengthen the unity of the community. A good reason to accept a style of architecture which has village elements to it, such as the shape of the roof and house as well as the natural stone and untreated pinewood, yet which incorporates a non-regional specific design which is in keeping with the times. Modern details, touches of color and scale changes in the proportion were very consciously incorporated into the new shapes of the village center, in order to document the new community life with contemporary architecture. The structural mass is mainly underground, skillfully built into the sloping plot of land, and the stage areas, suitable for various uses, open up so broadly onto the village that no one can feel any claustrophobia or fear at entering this building.

The old Nives barn, in the middle of a sprawling tourist village structure, was to be preserved as a reminder of the farming past and used for exhibiting purposes. Through the renovation, surfaces were created in the section made of stone and in the solid wood construction of the barn. The interior spaces below were plastered, and those above were paneled with larch. In order to enlarge the exhibition space the barn was connected through a short passageway to a new structure, forming an elegant architectural contrast. A visually light pavilion, the structural steelwork, was surrounded on all sides by a glass facade. As a result, the building allows insight into what is happening inside and develops a dialogue with passers-by, who are encouraged by its transparency to visit.

The building complex, comprising the old hotel and the new residence apartments, is located at the entrance of the valley-side entrance to Selva/Wolkenstein, and is easily accessible both by car and by public transport. Based upon the modern mountain architecture of the 1920s, an elongated wing was designed on the constricted plot that adapts to the natural lay of the land and adjoins itself to the scale of the existing hotel to which it is attached. The reinforced-concrete support structure was built with materials that suit the surrounding landscape: dark impregnated larch wood in the outdoor area, bright spruce wood in the interiors, oak floors, quartzite, white stucco, black steel, leather and natural-colored materials. The ventilated horizontal wooden slats in front of the wooden-clad facade and balconies form as a "second skin”, so to speak, a sort of filter between the interior and exterior spaces.

With its 65,000 square metres of space, Franzensfeste is the largest historical complex in South Tyrol. Begun in 1833 under Emperor Franz Josef, this masterpiece of Austrian fortress architecture was opened by Emperor Ferdinand in 1838 after a construction period of only five years. By this time, however, it had already lost its strategic importance and justification. The enormous effort and the horrendous costs - for nothing. From then on, the huge fortress was only of use as a depot and was frozen in the Sleeping Beauty sleep of a strictly guarded military installation for over a century and a half. Since the military left the fortress in 2003, Franzensfeste has been open to the public and was extensively renovated in the course of two major exhibitions in 2008 and 2009. As a South Tyrolean Provincial Museum, Franzensfeste Fortress is now a magnet for tourists and locals alike and a popular venue for a wide variety of exhibitions and events.

January and february: winter break

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.

The Fascist Youth GIL Buildings emerged in Merano/Meran, Bressanone/Brixen and Bolzano/Bozen in the 1930s according to designs by the architects Miozzo and Mansutti. Although in need of renovation, only the Bressanone structure has retained its original form. In Bolzano one of the most important buildings of Fascist Italy's rationalism period, a structure that had already been dilapidated, has been successfully repurposed. It was renovated and expanded through a competition. The fact that an Austrian architect achieved this, shows the overlap of cultures in Bolzano. The renovated, heritage-listed old building sections, painted in Tuscany red, were contrasted with a transparent building of glass and steel on a lightweight concrete structure, which also redefined the urban context with a vestibule, garden café and garden courtyard. The design of the interior spaces is just as light as that of the external appearance.

Directly along the bike route into the Pusteria Valley you’ll find Lanz Bike Station, next to the busy street, right at the entrance to the valley. Due to its extremely convenient location the station has also developed into a popular meeting place for vehicle drivers, who find ample parking here. An elongated structure made of plastered reinforced concrete has been created out of an earlier makeshift wooden vendor stand, which is set into the steep hillside. The owner of the station is so connected to it that he had his own house built as a white cube with terrace on the roof of the ground-floor service area. The residence is decorated in a varied way: floor-to-ceiling glass walls for the sales and guest areas, a sheltered garden courtyard and adjoining rooms that seem to be closed off. Everything is painted in gray-brown earth tones in order to emphasize the integration into the area.

Together with the pre-existing buildings, summit station of the cable car and pizza pavilion, the new mountain restaurant forms a courtyard situation sheltered from the wind in the very exposed, protected landscape site.  The new building, however, crouches down, an elongated single-story building, and appears almost as if part of the site. The architecture goes against the usual style of a mountain hut: a wide, cantilevered platform roof protects the underlying perimetric floor-to-ceiling glass façade, which makes the building appear more transparent and lighter. Familiar materials, though, were used: wood terraces, wood furniture, as well as natural stone masonry for the kitchen and adjoining room area. Three timber-clad cubes divide the otherwise completely open floor plan of the spacious guest area, which feels more like a lounge than a mountain hut.

This mountain hut, located at 2.096m next to the cable station Oberholz in Obereggen, Dolomites, contains a restaurant and is located with direct connection to the ski slope. The cantilevering structure grows out of the hill like a fallen tree with three main branches creating a symbiosis with the landscape. Each of them is facing towards the three most important surrounding mountains: Mendola, Corno Nero and Corno Bianco. At the end of the branches a large glass facade frames the surrounding mountains from the interior of the hut. The sloped roof shape of the glasses takes his inspiration from typical huts in the area, while the branching roof and complex structural interior expresses a new and contemporary interpretation of the classic mountain hut. The interior is defined by a complex curvilinear and visible wood structure that gradually fades into walls and creates so called “pockets” for intimacy. The entire hut is constructed with wood: structural elements and interior in spruce, the facade in larch, furniture in oak - all typical woods from the area.

The square of Lasa/Laas, a village known for its marble, is fancily paved with white marble. In the same square stands a bust of Emperor Franz Josef, done likewise in white marble – and somewhat deserted, having been unclaimed due to the First World War. The traditional tavern situated here is a popular meeting point, and has developed into a popular event venue. The original character was unequivocally to be retained during conversion: wooden floors, brightly painted wooden paneling on the walls, circular benches, simple furniture of widely varying origin and a bar made of matte stainless steel all yield a mixture that seems random, yet was calculated in a sophisticated way in order to create a relaxed atmosphere. The centerpiece of the expansion is the vaulted medieval wine-storage area, which is now used as a restaurant and meeting facilities.

A sports ground with an outdoor and indoor pool, the Aquarena, was built north of the Bressanone Old Town. It is the result of a competition provided for the extension, which was to include a music school, underground parking and an indoor climbing gym; the latter has now been built. The climbing gym had to be of a certain height: a cube that is highly visible amongst the surrounding buildings thus emerged, which can also be viewed as a landmark. It not only affords good views of the city, but also allows one to see into the hall, and meets ecological considerations. The reinforced concrete structure, which has a steel-and-glass façade, also has a second façade level of corrugated gold-colored perforated plate elements that give the interior soft light without harsh shadows. The hall is accessed along a monumental staircase, which is also planned to serve as the entrance to the music school that will be built next door.

Visitors of all ages to Obereggen can look forward to lots of new highlights, a viewing platform a fascinating adventure trails and the high-rope adventure centre.

The University of Bolzano’s Faculty of Education was built in Bressanone/Brixen. At first glance, the rigid modern architecture may be jarring opposite the Bishop's Palace, but its urban development and architectural qualities evolve upon closer examination. The square building corresponds approximately to the dimensions of the Bishop's Palace, and Bressanone’s Lauben arcade motif recurs on the ground floor, underneath the three glazed upper floors of offices. For its structure, the inner courtyard takes up the alleyways and atriums of the Bressanone Old Town. The materials used for the exterior and interior are consistently reduced to glass and concrete. The cool impression of the interior spaces fits in with the intentionally quiet, almost monastic educational system.

The San Giuseppe Parish Church is one of the most beautiful and modern churches in the Alps and is a fine example of contemporary architecture. The church was built and designed by the famous architect Dr. Willy Gutweniger between 1966 and 1971. It represents a successful attempt to combine ancient and modern architecture and it is important that visitors allow themselves enough time to understand the rich symbolic language of the building. The church opened on March 13, 1977 in the presence of the Bishop of the Diocese at the time, Dr. Josef Gargitter. Further information and images of the church and its furnishings are available at the vicarage and in the Tourist Association. Guided tours are held every Thursday at 5pm (except when funerals are held), from Easter to All Saints Day (November).
The church is opened daily from 7am to 7pm.

The Museum Ladin Ursus ladinicus tells the fascinating story of the cave bear that lived over 50,000 years ago in the Dolomites and was discovered in the Conturines cave, considered the highest-altitude site in the world where the remains of the cave bear and cave lion have been found. Visitors can also explore the geological history of the Dolomites, beautifully narrated through stunning fossils.

The Museum Ladin Ursus ladinicus, an annex of the Museum Ladin Ciastel de Tor in San Martino in Badia, is spread over three floors.

On the top floor, the formation of the Dolomites is illustrated with unique fossils of great scientific interest, typical of the area surrounding San Cassiano.

Next is the section dedicated to the formation of the cave, its discovery, and the excavations that unearthed thousands of bones. All the essential aspects of the cave bear's life and its environment are explained through the Ursus ladinicus remains, dating back more than 50,000 years.

On the ground floor, visitors can explore a reconstruction of the bear's cave, where they can admire "the mother bear in eternal hibernation with her cub."

Accessible for people with disabilities: The Museum Ladin Ursus ladinicus is fully wheelchair accessible.

The small village of Gummer | San valentino in Campo is home to the only planetarium in South Tyrol. This special place in Europe's first Star Village is a must for anyone fascinated by the starry sky and the secrets of the universe.
Here you can immerse yourself in the magic of the universe - without a telescope!
Sit in comfortable armchairs and gaze into the dome of the Star Room to experience realistic simulations of the starry sky and virtually fly through distant galaxies.
Most shows and performances are accompanied by guides and experts who bring you closer to the universe in a unique way. Whether day or night, summer or winter - a visit to the planetarium is always an experience you will remember for a long time.

The planetarium's Star Room has 53 seats and 2 spaces for wheelchairs. The entire structure is barrier-free.

The planetarium is only open during the presentations. These will be held in German or Italian.
Please book your tickets in advance - either directly via the website, by e-mail(info@planetarium.bz.it) or by telephone on +39 0471 610 020.

Click here for the current weekly programme

This unusual house is situated amongst a quite standard new village architecture. It consists of two sections: one constructed from parts of a 300-year-old farmhouse in which the farmer's and architect's family have been living for centuries, and another new building that crouches under the large tree trunks. The idea to live under mounted tree trunks came to the architect when he was a child playing in the woods, and he subsequently made it a reality. The stacked, untreated tree trunks do not hide a dingy living space beneath, but rather glass walls and openings that create an artful play of light when inside. In addition many other materials were used, from rough concrete mixed with glass shards to the extremely shiny stainless steel kitchen. A highly imaginative design here from the architect.

The Knottnkino (Rock Cinema) is the work of artist Franz Messner, who hails from Renon. The Knottnkino sits atop a red porphyry rock formation, Rotstein Knott Mountain, which is located in Vöran/Verano on 1,457 metres.

The lookout point, outfitted with thirty cinema seats made of steel and chestnut wood, is a wonderful place for hikers to take a seat, unwind, and enjoy a unique experience: nature as cinema. The site overlooks the whole of the Adige Valley so visitors enjoy stunning views that encompass the Texel Group Nature Park, Mount Penegal, and even Corno Bianco/Weißhorn Mountain farther afield.

In the local German dialect spoken in South Tyrol, Knottn means ‘rock’. Millions of years ago, when lava and falling ash formed the Tschögglberg Mountain Plateau, these round, wine-red knolls also came into being. These rock formations are unparalleled in South Tyrol. In Verano, there are three: Rotstein, Beimstein and Unterstein Knott.

The Knottnkino³ circuit trail conects the three red porphyry rocks of Vöran/Verano. Starting from the Burgstall-Vöran upper cableway station, the trail leads to the three panoramic landmarks of Verano: the Rotstein, Beimstein and Timpfler Knott.

Five outstanding architecture sculptures were designed for the adventurous Alpine Road, which leads through the Timmelsjoch Pass to Austria and is closed in winter. Each of the sculptures represents a theme related to this connecting road. The stations are made up of a chapel of sorts on the Austrian side of the pass with a wide promenade jutting out into “nothing,” a square house for the smugglers, the Pass Museum projecting out in a virtually neck-breaking effect, the two gigantic windows of the “telescope” looking over the mountain landscape, which are held by concrete of different shades, and finally the steel construction Granat, an echo of geological formations, which contains a showroom. These sculptures impressively demonstrate how architecture can add value to its surroundings.

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.

In Moos/Moso you will find a museum experience with a particular character. In combination with an Information Centre of the Natural Park Texel group exhibition areas to settlement history of the background Passeier, snow mountain, natural history and geology offered. History and experience bunker as well as a Capricorn-enclosure complete the offer.

Museion and its bridge link the old Austrian and the new Italian neighborhoods of the city, creating a built connection to a new era opposite the divisive Fascist architecture of the victory monument. The stylistic idiom of the mostly closed building, wrapped in its aluminum armor and with its far-reaching right angles, opens onto both parts of the city with its glassed narrow sides, encouraging one to enter. These glass facades are transformed into projection screens in the urban setting when darkness falls. The purely white architecture takes over the clear rooms inside, without dominating: a function to serve diverse exhibitions. The two swaying parts of the bridge over the Talvera/Talfer River form part of the museum’s concept: they symbolize the crossover of the two cultures that coexist here.

Anyone who approaches Bolzano/Bozen from the south along the A22 will see the Salewa building, to the right of the highway, a modern gateway to the city. Three office towers, with four, seven and twelve floors respectively, are set in a urban dialogue one with the other and with the surrounding mountain landscape. Through the freely formed designs as well as the facades of dark glass and gray aluminum, the building mass retreats and yet, at the same time, matches the colors of the mountain. In the seemingly unusually shaped building volumes made of a reinforced concrete structure with curtained glass and/or metal facades, South Tyrol’s largest climbing gym is housed in addition to the company warehouse and administrative offices. This structure adjoins a small recreational park with a garden area and a restaurant, which matches Salewa’s sporting goods production nicely.

A few minutes on foot from Sand in Taufers, near the Ahr, the Rein Valley waterfalls and a naturally formed swimming pool, stands a sports center, which is recognizable by the building's elongated, lightly curved roof. The interlocking of exterior and interior space defines the design. Light shines in from all sides through the glass panelling of the building, providing views of the surrounding area and of the outdoor pool which blends into the landscape. The terraces of the pool are reminiscent of the waterfalls. The interior rooms form a walkway between the areas and provide the required fixed points in the building that simultaneously offer stability next to the seemingly freely swaying roof. Few materials were used in the design: stainless steel basins, rough concrete for the walls, non-slip stone for the flooring, light acoustic ceilings, and the steel and glass facades which are very light in appearance.

This pool complex with its sweeping views connects nicely to the surrounding mountain landscape, creating an added attraction for visitors. At first glance the entrance façade looks closed as the result of the masonry curtain on the upper level, but the prominent glazed entrance area and long horizontal bands of windows on the ground floor also allow for a welcoming peek into the pool from outside. Apart from that, floor-to-ceiling glass facades girdle the structure, opening generously onto the outdoor swimming pool and the views. Through a recess in the roof, a shielded roof terrace for the sauna was created on the first floor, which also affords views into the distance. Light-flooded during the daytime, the wooden ceilings inside also lend the spaces a warm light and nice atmosphere when artificially lit at nighttime.

The house and workshop are located on the steep slope just outside the center of the village. The two buildings which run into each other at an angle, open out onto the mountain slope behind, forming an entrance. The workshop and the gallery are situated on the ground floor of the side of the building facing the slope. The concrete construction of this base is partially built into the slope, therefore part of the light for the workshop is provided by openings onto the ground floor which let in indirect light.

Above the basement a wooden construction rises up with interlocking supports, between which the wooden fronting of the facade is inserted; this is where the bedrooms are to be found. In contrast to this the ground floor, home to the living rooms, is predominantly constructed from glass. The shapes formed by the roof seem to evoke the dramatic Dolomite formation of the Schlern Massif, which can be seen in the background.

A cable car always means an intrusion into the mountains. For the fragile high-mountain landscape above Selva/Wolkenstein, an architect was commissioned for a suitable design. For the 2.2-km cable car, which has the capacity to transport 3,000 people per hour, three structures were to be designed: the base, intermediate and summit stations. The equipment rooms were to be situated underground to the extent possible, allowing passengers to step into spacious, glazed entrance areas that are covered by protective, undulating concrete shells. The smooth lines of the base station integrates into the terrain with smooth lines. The steel structure of the open intermediate station has a glassy, transparent look, and passengers are greeted at the summit station by the welcoming gesture of a concrete shell above the glazed hall.

Copper was once mined in the Aurina/Ahrntal Valley, and even today the tunnels can be visited and are used for the medicinal purpose of relieving asthma. The granary next to the church in Steinhaus has long served for the storage of food, with which the miners were partially remunerated. In 2000, it was rebuilt into a museum in order to exhibit the Enzenberg Collection comprising wood models, paintings, mine maps, documents and finds from the mines at Predoi/Prettau. In addition to a pavilion as foyer, which is made of a steel structure with stone slabs and connected with the exhibition rooms through a glass atrium, the renovation operation focused mainly on the central section of the elongated building structure. A wooden staircase, lift access, emergency stairs, and sanitary facilities were also installed here. The encased staircase represents a type of watershed between everyday life and the world of the museum.