Cultuur en bezienswaardigheden in het zuiden van Zuid-Tirol

The sedate building on the village square, next to the church, is the headquarters of the winery, the barrel storage and technical rooms were extended into the space between the Gothic church tower and the old building. In order to save space, they decided on a wood-planked tower. Its wide, overhanging flat roof incorporates the first cornice of the church tower, just a few meters away, and the height of the old building’s eaves. The winery tower is thus well integrated. Because wood was chosen as the material and it has a similarly warm tone to the sandstone of the church tower, the two towers do not compete with one another. The strip of windows in the meeting space under the roof of the tower makes reference to the Gothic truss frame of the church tower. The barrel cellar is a structure with concrete supports, fitted with exposed bricks. Both the cellar and the stairwell are pervaded with artistically defined color schemes.

The space in front of the Augustinian Monastery was used as a car park for a long time. Surrounded by buildings of historical value, the potential of the space was finally filled in with a new design. The complex is made of three parts: the entrance from outside, the square and the entrance to the abbey gate. The square was lowered by 1.5 meters in order to recreate the original proportions of the facades of the surrounding buildings. A steel plate for a fountain was installed in the middle of the space. Wooden steps arranged above the water cascade, surround the square, which can be used as seats for open-air events. In bad weather a large tarpaulin with steel supports and rope guy lines can be set up. All new aspects such as paving, parapets, steps etc. were made from granite to stay in keeping with the buildings of the abbey.

This winery, rich of traditions, has seen many alterations over the years and the cellar area in particular was extended and reorganized in 2011. An underground concrete construction was built to form a new fermentation cellar with a pressing chamber, over which a curved roof was built in order to protect the delivery. A concrete structure was also chosen for the new storage room, the west-facing wall, which gives out onto the orchard and was covered in wire baskets filled with excavated stones. These gabions were also used along the border and, as a design feature of the building extension, are reminiscent of the terroir of the vineyards. A beautiful reception courtyard is situated between the old and new buildings, displaying a fountain sculpture and planted tree, forming the new central point in the structure of the building.

The City and University Library in Brunico stands on an awkward construction site between single-family homes and the backs of buildings, and is also separated from the new town hall square – a subordinate position within the urban fabric for a culturally significant building. Between the heavy buildings, however, the architects have managed to insert some architectural freshness: open, transparent, timeless, modern without trendy flourishes, and with variable internal surfaces for variable use. The result is a visually light concrete structure that seems to float on its slender columns above the covered vestibule. The building features floor-to-ceiling glass facades and a shed roof above the uppermost terrace, in front of the meeting rooms. Inside there is only one solid core, while the rest of the floor plan are free surfaces that can be separated with shelves, glass walls and movable dividers. The color scheme is fresh, providing for a lively atmosphere.

After the Burggräfler Winery merged with Meran's winery, it gave up its base, the former building of the Burggräfler Winery on the outskirts of Marling was converted and extended. The facade of the old winery building became a solid wall with remnants of the previous design left on it, behind which the cellar rooms stretched back deep into the mountainside. The cellar rooms are practically separated by the wall from the management's rooms fronted by glass paneling and the tasting room for customers. The cellar rooms can be accessed at ground level on the highest side of the sloping property near the car park. The huge concrete construction of the cellars bear the weight of the pavilion made of light steel and decorated solely in dark wood furnishing. These slightly tinted and offset glass elements provide a splendid view of the Etsch Valley.

From 1230 forwards the castle was home to knights and caretakers in the Gader Valley, who were appointed by the Bishop of Brixen until 1803. Farmers inhabited it from that point on, until it was converted into the Museum of Ladin History and Culture, and was expanded. The central point of the information is, amongst others, the cave bear, Ursus ladinicus, for which a branch museum in St Kassian was created. A foyer area was added onto the castle with a bar and rooms for temporary exhibitions, area constructed from wood, steel and glass, which with its flat roof goes almost unnoticed next to the superior historical building, and is a good example of a timeless modern construction. Inside, robust wooden flooring and whitewashed walls create a neutral background for various exhibitions and floor-to-ceiling glass-paneled sections of the facade look out onto a gorgeous view.

With its curved floor plan, the town hall of Brunico/Bruneck follows the course of the Europastrasse street, which in turn follows the riverbend of the Ahr around Schloss Bruneck castle. The building is intended to refresh the overall image of the city and to set a new urbanistic accent in an otherwise rather shapeless development. The building consists of four parts, which were loosely arranged around the town hall square, but nevertheless form a structural unit. With its 3,000 square metres, the square creates an open space that underlines the importance of the town hall. The square is one of three squares, all paved and without plants. Meusburger Platz is located between the school and the old gym and is equipped with stone columns. The school square also offers sports facilities.

This beverage company, which has been existence since 1919, is a return to the old town of Brunico/Bruneck. The historical building, which has Gothic elements, is listed. The facades have therefore been carefully renovated yet it has gained a new, distinct character through the addition of glass to the ground floor arches and the illumination at dusk. From the outside one can already sense the atmosphere inside, and the sales counter conveys a slight corner-shop feel to the place; the interior is however divided stylistically. In the front section there are bright shelves, while the section towards the back has a hint of luxury about it, with its antique furniture. The Harpf private drinking cavern, situated in the cellar and independent of the shop, has been superbly designed by the architects Ged Bergmeister and Michaela Wolf.

Behind the monastery garden rises the light facade of the Kapuzin Monastery, next to which the disguised new school building built in a grey sandstone sits unnoticed. A section of wall was added onto the old east-facing facade, behind which there is a corridor with classrooms that look onto the intimate monastery courtyard. The majority of the rooms had to be built underground due to the extremely limited space available. Illumination in these rooms has been created through skylights in the garden and sophisticated guided shafts of light. This directed lighting removes any trace of a cellar-like feeling, and allows for a highly concentrated learning environment. An elegant set of steel steps leads from the entrance hall to all of the floors; all of the corridors are colorfully decorated. An aesthetic symbiosis between the old and the new has been found for this place of teaching and learning.

This cooperative winery was founded in 1960, and today its 290 members work more than 300 hectares of vineyards. The industrial buildings in which the winery was located on the outskirts of Cornaiano/Girlan, no longer matched the quality of the wines and its associated image. So the first step of remodeling the commercial building was to give it an attractive wood façade, with vertical oak floorboards and deep reveals with steel sheets for the necessary openings. A second construction phase implemented a visually light, steel structure as a roof for the delivery area, under which all-new winemaking equipment was installed. In addition, the tasting room was refurbished. Since the hillside winery is visible from afar, a steel trellis was placed on the street level of the buildings as an entryway, and the road was planted with cypresses to create an avenue.

The old building of the Cantina Terlano is situated in the middle of the village. It managed to cautiously expand, mainly underground, as the plot of land it sits upon is quite small. Visible above ground are the large delivery yard and the terrace above it, with the transparent tasting room. The underlying outer wall of the new cellar rooms is clad in dry stone work made from the typical porphyritic rock found in the Terlano vineyards, and the remaining underground construction is planted over with vines in order to help the new sections of building blend into the landscape. The heart of the new cellar rooms is the barrel cellar, decorated in porphyritic rock panels, which create an almost sacred atmosphere. The original parts of the building were carefully restored and a landmark tower, clad in Corten steel, and lift were added.

The contemporary longing for nature and sports in the city influenced the thinking of the Fascist municipal government of Bolzano/Bozen and, as a result, had an outdoor swimming complex built on the banks of the Isarco/Eisack River. From a horticultural viewpoint, the site was designed as a striking landscape architecture within the urban area. The buildings show the influence of the Italian rationalist thought of those years, oriented towards the Bauhaus. Clear functionality and a design that is both reduced and concentrated on the essential, avoided Fascist monumentality of any kind. The plastered entrance building with its sweeping terrace section shows expressive motifs that do not deny the influence of the Gmunden outdoor pool by Franz Gessner, a student of Otto Wagner's. Although this architecture seemed strange to the South Tyroleans of the day, it is nevertheless of lasting quality.

From an architectural standpoint, the climbing and bouldering arena in Brunico/Bruneck was designed to fit in with various existing, largely heterogeneous buildings. With a powerful and independent architectural language, the arena stands in contrast to the natural and already existing environment as constructed. The large variation in height and room depth as well as the arrangement of the inner courtyard and the outdoor climbing area result in high-quality outdoor spaces, which nevertheless appear as a coherent, interconnected building formation. The back of the building has no openings, while the facades facing the inner courtyard are glazed to the height of the building, as if opening themselves up to the visitor. The indoor climbing hall is highly recognisable and, despite its rocky structure, blends in well with nature and the landscape. The overall design is minimalist: sparse details and clear lines of concrete and local limestone.

The Walch Winery is housed in a former Jesuit monastery, with neighboring buildings. For the reception and tasting areas, a garden pavilion was planned at what was likely the most difficult spot in the park: it was built at the top of the junction in the village street that runs down from the town hall square. From there, one can see only the drywall of the boundary, and a curved white roof as an “extension” of the wall covering. Through three slots in the masonry, one can see the park with its huge trees. But one also sees the floor-to-ceiling glass facade of the elegant pavilions under the overhanging roof edge in the garden courtyard, contained by the wall. In the narrow interior space, wooden fixtures with a breakfast bar and a curtain wall are located in front of the side rooms. On it, the bottles are exhibited horizontally. An inviting ensemble with service in the park.

In terms of design, responding to Angiolo Mazzoni's imposing train station building (1928), on the opposite side of the street, was no easy task. This has been achieved to the point that the new building, like the train station, goes beyond architecture and is now an urban structure. Its undulated form, which is divided into individual houses, is determined by the surrounding urban spaces: by the semicircular station square on the front, by the rectangular Magnagoplatz, and by the Laurin- and Rittner Straße at the rear. The building itself is crossed by three radial passageways from the station square and has two inner courtyards. The facades on the ground and mezzanine floors are clad in white marble, the four upper floors in reddish porphyry. The interior spaces of the building are well illuminated; the design of the office departments is varied.

At the southern entrance to the Old City, this building creates a three dimensional town with a city gate, pathways and open spaces which connect the various business areas internally as well as vertically. The large glass surfaces of the otherwise smooth and forbidding aluminum and glass facade create an individual setting for the way into the city of Bolzano – the openness and exclusivity of commercial activities are recorded here. The corner building marks clearly the city's border; all that is missing is an adjoining building to complete this effect. The interior spaces are of an ideal temperature, using very little energy altogether. A closed office atmosphere is avoided by the transparency of the succession of rooms created by elegant glass walls and light corridors; teamwork is encouraged and the visitor is openly welcomed.

In a building in the old town on the biggest shopping street in Brunico/Bruneck, a glass right angle opens up allowing a view into the wide yet long, tube-like room which stirs you to enter the room. Apart from the floor, laid with square black slabs, the rest of the interior is completely white. Bright light and the back-lit walls made of white frosted glass make the small windowless room seem far larger and lighter than it actually is. The white furnishings including the counter and shelves seem inferior to the colorful things on offer here: in the front section of the shop Andreas Acherer's patisseries are on sale. These products have won awards many times in the Gambero Rosso guide. In the back section, separated for hygienic reasons, are artistic flower arrangements by Barbara Strondl.

Business carried on as usual during the building and conversion work, which succeeded in transforming the high expectations placed on wine production into an architectural form. A symbol of urban development was simultaneously designed as part of the entranceway. Sections of the pre-existing building were flanked by the wings of the new buildings, making for an impressive welcome at the winery. This means that the delivery area and customer reception are completely separated by a story. The architecture of the new buildings seems to have grown out of the vineyard landscape − the design of the facade, with its steel construction and glass surfaces takes the form of the vineyards in a symbolic connection between the sloping vineyards and the winery. Inside is a light, spacious area constructed from wood and glass, while in the cellar bright colors have been employed.

This fortress, which is the largest in the Alps, was completed in 1838 but was never actually used for the purpose of war. It served as a munition storage place until it was taken over by South Tyrol to be used for cultural purposes. So far the lower and middle fortress have been rebuilt to house exhibitions. Cellar corridors were extended underground and connected by a vertical shaft to the uppermost, destroyed, powder magazine. A staircase was installed here, free standing like a sculpture, so that the view of the exterior was not impaired. A new building made of concrete extends the ruins which are covered with a steel roof. The rest of the additional buildings were built in patinated black steel, whose open galleries seems to sway over the surface of the reservoir.

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.

The vineyards that belong to the winery stretch from Margreid to Nals, covering 150 hectares, are farmed by 140 wine farmers. Both existing wineries were brought together in Nals in a new building in order to raise both capacity and quality. An entrance was added onto the old build with a tower and cellar areas with the latest cellar technology. The new building, made of a brown-red concrete, echoes the porphyritic cliffs nearby and the existing adjoining cellar. The new building is covered by a structurally interesting concrete roof with a large overhang, which blends into the landscape with its greenery. Beneath the freely suspended roof slab is a barrique cellar constructed from wood, like an oversized wine box, and marks the passageway to the inner courtyard. The structure blends harmoniously into the landscape.

Urban planning considerations led to three parallel, elongated wings of varying heights, the two-story covered entrance which is situated on Lazzeriniplatz Square. Its use of the same materials: exposed concrete, steel and glass throughout, and consistent design, convey an architectonically heterogeneous environment of tranquility and space. From the entrance you walk into a spacious, light-flooded hall between the first and second wings, which reaches all of the floors. Underneath there is the sports hall, with stair towers at the ends. The glazed steel bridges, designed by Heimo Zobernig, allow for open access to the third wing and to the break area of the roof terrace.

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.

The former Realgymnasium high school which lies in the center of the old town was converted and extended for use as a satellite Brunico campus of the Free University of Bolzano focusing on tourism management, sport and events management. The large, angular old building was also carefully renovated. The smaller wing of the building received a new stairwell built from concrete, the inscription of which has become well known in the city. This welcoming inscription tablet, alongside two new sections of building, form a peaceful square that provides a welcome open space in the narrow old town. A new, large underground auditorium, which can also be used as a room for public events, is situated underneath. The structure of the old building is recognizable in the interior design to which modern details have been tastefully added. The teaching rooms are situated on the top floor.

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.

The Cantina Valle Isarco was founded in 1961. The simple production hall originally built in 1978 was restructured in 2005 in order to separate the operational functions and to give the building an appropriate new appearance. The new part of the building made of concrete and the remaining structure were brought together by a unifying grey-red plaster shell, which symbolizes the connection to the terroir. Many steel components were given an oxide red shading, a color chosen to make the building look like a stone that has risen up amongst the vineyards. A brick ceiling now covers the barrique cellar, and the walls are covered in clay plaster. The offices and meeting rooms were renovated and refurnished; bright colors now accentuate the rooms. To round this all off, the tasting and sales room was redesigned in 2014, and an educational exhibit on wine was added as well.

It was Mussolini’s idea to establish a memorial to the fallen soldiers of the First World War on the site where a monument to the Kaiserjäger had already been commenced. A collection of donations throughout the whole of Italy financed the new monument. However, the architect designed a victory monument in the style of Roman triumphal arches as apologia for the conquest-hungry fascists with its insignia and an inscription, which refers to the martial tradition of the Roman Empire. It was seen as a grave insult to German-speaking South Tyroleans. After lengthy negotiations between the province of South Tyrol and the Italian cultural ministry, the high-fenced-in monument opened, in the catacombs of the building, a permanent exhibition in 2014 about events that unfolded under two dictatorships from 1918-1945, in order to improve understanding and communication.

Situated in the Dolomites amongst the protected Viles (Ladin hamlets), this residential home stands at 1,200 meters above sea level. The house, divided into a home and a separate holiday apartment, has borrowed the wooden-clad building style of the traditional Paarhöfe (pairs of residential and farming buildings) and was carefully built on the steep meadow. The concrete construction remains visible in the interior of the building, smoothed and painted white, and the exterior is covered in darkly varnished wood. Hand-fashion, untreated, matured pine wood from the local area was used for the interior. The house is completely self-sufficient in terms of energy: it has its own source of water, geothermal power, and uses solar energy collected by solar panels integrated into the roof. The chalet has been awarded many prizes.

Trauttmansdorff was honored as Italy's Most Beautiful Garden in 2005. The complex comprises approximately 12 hectares of gardens, with about 5,800 species of plants and 80 different garden landscapes. The gardens are crossed by paths and waterways, and lined with pavilions. The castle – once the holiday residence of Empress Sissi – has been meticulously restored and complemented by a restaurant and visitor center. In addition to elegant stainless-steel details for bridges, railings and furniture, of particular note are the Aviary and the Viewing Platform. These two modern structures lend the gardens an architectural three-dimensionality. Both represent light yet bold architecture, made of stainless or galvanized steel, and seem to float over the gardens. Visitors access the Viewing Platform across steps that are virtually transparent. The platform towers above the treetops; meanwhile a dizzying bridge high above the gardens protrudes out of the aviary.