Location
- Barbian, South Tyrol
Area
- 165 m²
Photos
- Gustav Willeit
Partners
- Obexer
- Heiss Fenster
- Tischlerei Prader
- Beton Eisack Gmbh
It takes a bit of courage to implant futuristic-looking buildings in the South Tyrolean mountains. Even if their material composition is in keeping with minimalist alpine building and regional elements appear, the correspondence with the idyllic surroundings is initially unusually exciting for the viewer. Thus, the residential building in Barbian (IT) towers above the Eisack Valley as a self-confident concrete monolith. With an imaginative choice of materials and using existing building components, the Graber Hof in Aicha (IT) plays to the backdrop at the entrance to the village.
The residential house in Barbian (IT) captivates already from its design by simplicity. A plain cube leans against a steeply sloping hillside. A magnificent view of the surrounding mountains rewards the topographically not quite easy building site. The core idea of the design was to “place a stone in the landscape”. Typologically, it adapts to the site and, in the last resort, should also be made of a mineral material. Inspired by the Barbian porphyry, the material choice of the anthracite-colored insulating concrete, creates a link between the natural rock of the surroundings and the new building. The use of regional wood is understood as a reference to the surrounding mountains. The new structure presents itself in an uncomplicated manner and allows the panorama to take precedence. The facade will change over the years and, at least in part, will be conquered by nature through weathering. The idea of leaving nothing superfluous continues inside in the interior design.
A reversal of the classic prefabricated house production; prefabrication in the hall and assembly on the construction site, ensured a very short construction time. In this case, prefabrication also took place on the construction site. The property received the European Architecture Award 2018.