Designing in the mountains
Abstract
From the architect’s point of view, designing implies the need to develop sensitivity and competence to be able to read the context. This ability allows to transform the environment in continuity with the set of natural, social and cultural aspects that determine the character of a place. In an environment such as the Alps, this process of interpretation acquires even greater significance due to the intensity with which nature and the landscape become determining elements of a project. In an even more evident way, compared to other contexts, Alpine territory and architecture have always been strongly influenced by environmental conditions. This approach to the project requires a phase of analysis of the site in which the territory represents a sort of palimpsest, and the built landscape can be read as a stratification of meanings; each of these meanings is an expression of human needs and aspirations in a given historical moment. The objective underlying this research is to identify the characteristic traits of a context, the ones we might define as absolute and recurrent, so as to make them an integral part of the project and contextualise them with respect to contemporary needs. The works presented here originate from shared themes, developed using an essential architectural language and pursuing the search for harmony between architecture and landscape: paying attention to proportions, details and the choice of materials, and defining the quality of a space, a notion that could be termed “atmosphere”.
