Top of Tirol

Aste Architects' Top of Tirol project, a 360 viewing platform commissioned by the Stubaier Gletscher Bahnen AG on the Isidor.

Via Dezeen and totonko (thanks, C!).

More here and here.

-d.

Alpinale 23

The 23rd incarnation of the Alpinale is taking place in the town of Nenzing in Vorarlberg, Austria.

The prize is the Golden Unicorn.

-d.

Manifesta 7

The Manifesta 7 opened a week ago in Italy's Trentino in South Tyrol, an enormous biennial for contemporary art. The venues are spread out across the region and are comprised of largely old industrial buildings referred to by the fair as "industrial archeology buildings, which are linked to the work history and the progressive industrialisation of the territory."

The curators are Adam Bunke, curator of contemporary art at the Kunsthaus Graz am Landesmuseum Joanneum, Anselm Franke, the artistic director of Extra City Center for Contemporary Art in Antwerp, together with Hila Peleg, a PhD candidate in Curatorial Knowledge/Visual Cultures at Goldsmiths College/University of London, and the Raqs Media Collective.

-d.

Mountain time for teddy bears

Today's Rondo supplement to the Austrian newspaper Standard features an article on a pair of mountaineers whose company Teddy to the Top provides an entirely useless and wholly amusing service to mankind: they carry your stuffed animals to the tops of mountains.

Destinations include Mont Blanc, the Großglockner, Piz Palü, and Mount Everest.

But this holiday doesn't come cheap. A trip to the Matterhorn in June of this year has an asking price of €349, a trip slated for October to Island Peak in Nepal an amazing €749.

-d.

Walter Niedermayr

Italian-born (and thus perhaps strangely named) Walter Niedermayr has made it his business to photograph the business of contemporary culture's "microclimates". His large-scale, multi-panel and often blanched photographs depict skiers, kite boarders, hikers, wind surfers, and mountain climbers in their environ of choice, which can be anywhere from an alpine mecca to an indoor amusement park.

Niedermayr won the 1995 European Photography award for his series Die Bleichen Berge (The Pale Mountains, see legend) and continues both his work on mountains and architecture.

-d.

Step inside my barn

In J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Harry walks into a tent pitched on the grounds outside the stadium of a big sporting event. The tent looks average until he files in after the large family it is meant to accommodate only to realize it is, of course, a magic tent, complete with dining area, several rooms, functioning kitchen, and bath. "I love magic!" proclaims Harry.

Well, I love the Suite Alpestre. Designed by Geneva- and Lausanne-based Devanthéry-Lamunière, the German-language Architectural Digest ran a piece on this great little stowaway in the Swiss canton of Wallis (more commonly referred to as the Valais) in their December 07/January 08 issue.

One of the languages prevalent in the region is Franco-Provençal, also known as Romansch or increasingly as Arpitan (as the speakers themselves often call it), a Latin-origin language which has given us the words glacier, avalanche, moraine, and, appropriately, chalet.

There are very, very tight restrictions on building in this canton, especially at such an altitude, as the integrity of the whole landscape has to be preserved. I paraphrase from the company's website:

A stable barn at a high altitude, vis-a-vis the so-called "White Tooth". In summer, grass to mow; in winter, snow and risk of avalanche. A precise construction with walls of stone for the stable below, wood beams for the barn above. An overlay planted on a slope from where a certain volume with precise proportions emerges (4 X 5 X 3 m), maintained and covered by a dry stone roof. Paramount if protection against potential avalanches, living environment is achieved via controlled heating and careful use of sealant. Dismount, number, preserve, build protection, and rebuild. The concrete work, engineering calculations for risk, along with new installations (kitchen and bathroom), wrap and protect the newly livable cell: below, the room of stone, and above, the wood room.

Particularly successful are details are the slated door/window in the wood room (above, on the right) and the excellent concealment of the entry door and storage in the same (below).

It's a great space and it manages to incorporate key points that make architectural design in the Alps some of the most innovative in the world. More importantly, though, it breathes new life into the mountains and proves that grave encroachments on the region's integrity are not necessary to achieve such an end.

-d.

Her mit dem Berge!

Ear and eye will determine that the German word 'Herberge' and the French word 'auberge' sound similar and are written so, too, both meaning a hospice or a hostel. Indeed, they have the same root and are related to the French 'héberger' and the German 'beherbergen', two words which only vaguely translate into English as 'to shelter', 'to housing' or 'to take in'. But where the French words and phrases mont, château fort, and mettre à l'abri have nothing in common, their German counterparts Berg, Burg, and bergen do. All of these, in turn, culminate in the German word Geborgenheit, something untranslatable and meaning a feeling of being sheltered from harm.

More about this in the second segment of Arte's excellent Karambolage broadcast from May 2006:

The idea of Geborgenheit is ingrained in every child, as is the idea of a Herberge. Where the English proximate connotes a more clinical or perhaps religious attitude, the auberge and Herberge imply log houses and cabins at the end of wildflower trails, set along the streams of foothills and mountains.

Equally lovely and refreshing, then, to see a modern spin on the idea from the folks at berge in Germany's beautiful Chiemgau region.

Theirs is a fresh take on the wooden panels and industrial-issue bunk beds of yore, making the whole approach to the scenery without less of a challenge than an extension to an already beautiful setting.

-d.

Alpentraum

To kick off the new era here at Alpentraum, Yann-Arthus Bertrand's photo (above, called 'Altitude') epitomizes a standard stereotype prevalent throughout the Alps, namely as a realm of untouchable majesty, beauty, and isolation.

For thousands of years the Alps have held a position of power over man, emblazoning his heart with respect and fear. He has avoided them when he could, been humbled when he couldn't. In more recent decades, the mountains won a place in pictorial romanticizing and its highest, best mountains captured from every angle, at sunset as well as in storms. But always the disassociation of valley and mountain, as if without this contrast between depth and height the this highland could even exist.

Lately the future of the unparalleled life to be found in the Alps has become unsure. Both the plants and animals that live there, as well as the human life that surrounds them, have come under threat from encroaching industry and environmental catastrophe. The melting of the glaciers and retreat of natural habitat, along with the corrosion of cultural values and long-held traditions, has lead to a slow realization of the major shift that is happening. But with this acknowledgment comes also hope in that while a change may be unavoidable, the direction and breadth of that change may be influenced and even guided.

The goal of this blog is to document developments in the Alps, both traditional and new, but above all those that combine the unique heritage of this vast region with contemporary innovation. For it is the social, economic, and environmental awareness of the countries that share in these mountains and the people that live in, with, and for them that are reshaping the image we have of this spectacular heart of Europe, and are developing this territory into an epicenter of cross-border initiatives in innovation, collaboration, and preservation.

-d.

What ho, new chap?

Well, in honor of post 100 we here at Alpentraum are moving to new headquarters. In future Alpentraum will be nothing but news about the Alps, as it was originally conceived. But while this gets underway, this medley will carry on much as it has under a new banner.

Here's the link.

-d.