architecture and design. Buildings always display the character of their owners and their location, and many travellers are looking for just that in their holiday accommodation: authentic architecture reflecting history and culture, present and future.
Change in the Alpine region For many, the expression “Alpine look” calls to mind charming as well as kitsch images: Heidi-style scenes with lederhosen and dirndl dresses in a panoramic mountain setting, complete with some yodelling in the background. But a rethink is well overdue, because there is another side to the Alpine area – modern, straight-lined, environmentally aware and sustainable. By making use of 21st century design vocabulary and methods, young designers, architects and hotel owners have created a dynamic version of the old-established Alpine tourism within the last few years. A fine line divides the two. The new creative generation has no desire to push aside or radically tear down all that is old. Instead, the aim is to bring traditional values, designs, colours and characteristics in line with the architectural requirements and
style developments of today‘s travel scene. Designs aim to offer an environment for modern life and living in an attractive, functional and aesthetically pleasing architecture – both inside and out. Building concepts also profit from the international education of the young generation of architects, for whom a global intellectual exchange is normal. The change in the architecture of holiday accommodation initially started in the Alto Adige/South Tyrol region of the Alps. A first landmark project in the early 1970s was the Seehotel Ambach by Lago Caldaro (ill. p. 14) – a modern timeless interpretation of hotel architecture by Othmar Barth. Nothing major happened after that, until Matteo Thun, an architect from Bolzano, caused a stir with his design of the Vigilius Mountain Resort near Lana in 2002/03: a bold, ground-breaking, as well as sustainable elongated structure, with a flat green roof, large window fronts and a larch wood façade (ill. p. 15). Thun didn‘t stop there, but immediately followed this with his Pergola Residence in Algund. Here too, the interior design was clear and minimalistic, while the exterior architecture echoed the characteristic shape of the local South Tyrolean
pergola-style vine training system. Despite much shaking of heads on the part of other hoteliers and local residents, Thun and the hotel operators managed to attract new guests with an interest in architecture to the Alto Adige/South Tyrol region with the two buildings. In the media, the North Italian province was suddenly referred to as a cool destination rather than a sleepy pensioner’s paradise. In the years that followed, many hotels and vacation apartments with modern designs were built, but old building fabric was also carefully renovated with a sensitive interpretation of contemporary style. The trend continued in the Vorarlberg region before finally reaching the rest of the Alpine area, although less pronounced. It ended a period of frantic holding on to apparent traditions characterised by increasingly cheaper travel offers. Accommodation in the Alps scared off the more discerning traveller for years. One was either confronted with sins of concrete construction committed in the 1970s, trivialised with kitsch in the form of crocheted flowery coverlets, or had to put up with table waste bins and cheap-looking veneer bedroom furniture. Modern, uncluttered design was nowhere to be found. Having grown old with their
OBEN TOP Seehotel Ambach, Kaltern (I) 1973, Othmar Barth Seehotel Ambach, Caldaro (I) 1973, Othmar Barth RECHTS RIGHT Vigilius Mountain Resort, Lana (I) 2003, Matteo Thun Vigilius Mountain Resort, Lana (I) 2003, Matteo Thun
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