New Architecture in South Tyrol 2018 – 2024

Whereas in the past a geographical approach had been favoured, dividing the selected projects by valleys and thus suggesting that the differences and peculiarities were on a small scale, for jury this edition decided on a different approach.

The criteria guiding the selection process were the careful and sensible use of building materials and resources; the attention paid to sources; and the environmental impact or social interest of the structures. Based on these aspects, "families" gradually emerged that, over and above the individual personalities of the designers or the different uses, were characterised by similarities and common approaches.

The "categories" underlying both the exhibition and the catalogue are intended as possible interpretations of the various forms that characterise a South Tyrolean architectural language and can be a useful tool for investigating and narrating this.

Thus, in "Reflexive reuse" we encounter a series of projects related to the theme of architectural reuse, starting with a comparison of structures that are very different both in terms of their age and function. Lukas Wielander and Martin Trebo worked on a medieval building in the heart of Glurns/Glorenza to create apartments and commercial premises. The project represents a particularly successful example of renovation that was able to adopt contemporary tools, adapting the complex to today's housing requirements but also keeping in line with its history. There is no shortage of examples of the reuse of 20th-century works, as in the case of the project by ModusArchitects: tasked with renovating the Cusanus Academy in Brixen/Bressanone, a masterpiece by the architect Othmar Barth (1927-2010), the studio, itself from the city, succeeded in combining a contemporary style with the principles that had inspired it.

The city of Brixen/Bressanone also offers a case study for the relationship between architecture and its historical context in the section entitled "Urban evocations". Projects such as the public library by Carlana Mezzalira Pentimalli show how it is possible to dialogue with the old town without renouncing the experimental aspects, which provide paradigmatic examples for interventions in historic city centres.

Alongside the dialogue with the city, there is also the dialogue with nature, an inescapable aspect in a region such as South Tyrol. "Architecture naturans" shows a series of examples that seem to arise from a direct relationship with nature, as in the case of the new Pacherhof winery in Neustift/Novacella by the studio bergmeisterwolf, which appears to transform the mountain into architecture. This work, which has won numerous international prizes and awards, represents one of the most important examples in the field of wine architecture.

On the other hand, "Participatory topography" gathers together architecture where a decisive aspect is its relationship with the terrain and its often impervious features. As an example, the Civil Defence Centre on the Ritten/Renon plateau by Roland Baldi Architects, which houses a new headquarters for the Fire Service, the Alpine Rescue and the White Cross, seems with its simple, sculptural form to blend into the natural slope. Moreover, its concrete façade, inspired by the geological formations found in the area (the "earth pyramids"), accentuates the effect whereby the building seems to emerge from the ground and be part of it.

In "Plausible Vernaculars", the relationship with traditional forms is questioned via a series of projects in which this relationship is neither spectacularised nor trivialised. This is the case of the Zierhof with "Stube" in the Pflersch/Fleres Valley by NAEMAS Architekturkonzepte, designed following the destruction of a farmhouse in a fire. Adopting an architectural language that recalls the former building with, at the same time, a contemporary approach, the project investigates the curative potential of memory.

In "Generative Excavation" we encounter projects that work by means of subtraction, such as the musealisation of the city walls of Meran/o by the architects Höller & Klotzner. Adopting simple steel profiles that evoke the original dimensions of the walls that emerged during excavations around the Prince's Castle, the project succeeds in bringing to light the presence of what is no longer there, while preserving its memory.

Interior architecture is also examined in "Poetic Interiors", which presents examples of projects that are capable of going beyond an international style or the reuse of local styles in a touristic sense, thus taking less explored paths. The Art Library by Martin Feiersinger at Castle Gandegg near Eppan plays on a bold contrast, whereby colourful fixtures and furnishings enter into a playful dialogue with the existing building.

The last section, "Art and Architecture", addresses a relationship that is of central importance to the sponsoring institutions. Here we encounter projects such as Halle 3 by Julian Tratter and Markus Hinteregger. The extension of the company headquarters of barth Innenausbau in Brixen/Bressanone included the creation of new communal areas for staff, the design of a contemporary art gallery and the involvement of various artists.

The same criteria that formed the basis for the selection and subdivision of the projects recur, in a different order, in the catalogue and in the exhibition. In the former, the choice was to alternate "categories" with critical texts, as in a kind of "hypertext", a book within a book. The exhibition space is on the other hand organised through modular structures made of wood and honeycomb cardboard panels, arranged in different combinations, leaving the walls empty and bringing – both symbolically and critically – the initial question regarding architecture to the centre of the space.