THE LOCATION: Slightly beneath the main village road at the eastern entry to the village with a terrific view towards southwest: an old wayside cross standing below two birch trees, behind that the wide fields of Rum and a little further the Serles and the Nockspitz. A postcard idyll – almost too good to be true.
THE PLAN: The more beautiful and “whole” the building site is, the more responsibility lies on the architect’s shoulders. Luigi Snozzi wrote in our guest-book “Every construction means also destruction; destroy with reason.” Thus arises the concept of fitting a “soft” structure into the “soft” surroundings, reinterpreting the unique charm of the place. The building blends seamlessly into its surroundings right beside a slight curve in the road. The level of the market and the entrance has been set three meters below street level, creating the impression that the considerable construction mass is nothing more than a floating roof, if looked at from the direction of the village. When you drive by or wait at the bus stop you can always look inside or beyond the building. The building structure, which is rounded off at its ends, is “ever present through its modesty”.
