Det­ta­glio del pro­get­to ed. 2024

mou­n­­tain-cha­­pel-wir­m­­bo­­den / Austria

Innauer Matt Architekten

Pro­get­ti­sta Sven Matt
Loca­tion Wirm­bo­den, 6882 Sch­ne­p­fau, AUSTRIA
Nazio­ne Austria
Desi­gn Team
Anno 2016
Cre­di­ti Fotografici

EXTER­NAL 1: Adolf Bereu­ter (www.adolfbereuter.com)
EXTER­NAL 2–5 / INTER­NAL 1–5: Domi­nic Kum­mer (www.dominic-kummer.com)

Foto ester­ni

Descri­zio­ne del progetto

In the Bre­gen­zer­wald, an alpi­ne val­ley in Western Austria, tran­shu­man­ce is still the com­mon­ly prac­ti­sed form of far­ming: Live­stock is dri­ven to gra­ze on moun­tain pastu­res in the war­mer mon­ths. The lower ones of the­se pastu­res are cal­led ‘Vor­säß’ whi­le the higher ones, used in the war­me­st sum­mer mon­ths, are cal­led ‘Alpe’.

Wirm­bo­den is a ‘Vor­säß’ at the foot of the steep north face of the valley’s Kani­sfluh moun­tain, owned and mana­ged by a col­lec­ti­ve of far­mers. Almo­st eve­ry ‘Vor­säß’ has its own lit­tle cha­pel or at lea­st some desi­gna­ted spa­ce for the cele­bra­tion of mas­ses and the tra­di­tio­nal con­se­cra­tion of the far­mers and their live­stock. For 32 years the­re was a lit­tle cha­pel at Wirm­bo­den, but in 2012, the cha­pel and seve­ral huts were destroyed by an ava­lan­che. Whi­le it was clear from the begin­ning that the huts would be rebuilt, it was more chal­len­ging to find a con­sen­sus on the con­struc­tion of a new chapel. 

What we see now at Wirm­bo­den is a sym­bol for the col­lec­ti­ve spi­rit of this very diver­se group of peo­ple. It was them who nego­tia­ted, con­cei­ved, plan­ned, and even­tual­ly built this cha­pel over the cour­se of three years. Today, the moun­tain cha­pel com­ple­men­ts the ensem­ble of alpi­ne huts most natu­ral­ly; it beca­me the pla­ce whe­re nei­gh­bours meet, whe­re gathe­rings and cele­bra­tions are held, whe­re peo­ple come to take a moment and pray. 

Thanks to prac­ti­cal con­tri­bu­tions by almo­st eve­ry sin­gle mem­ber of the Wirm­bo­den col­lec­ti­ve, the cha­pel was built without any help from third par­ties. Everyone’s par­ti­ci­pa­tion made pos­si­ble what see­med impos­si­ble in the begin­ning — making (almo­st) eve­ryo­ne hap­py with the result: A gem in the mountains.

Rela­zio­ne illu­stra­ti­va del progetto
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Foto inter­ni

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