Alpine Studio II — Summer

Teaching Year 2016

ACADEMIA 2015 / 2016

Educators: Marjan Colletti | Marc Ihle | Thomas Feuerstein | exparch.at | © Universität Innsbruck

Brief | Topic II

Summers

As we were looking the last term at scenarios of climate change and the disappearance of „the cold“ and snow in winters, the question rises how will alpine regions than look in summer? Sub-tropical valleys? Rising Temperatures and new upcoming technological developments and possibilities, should be seen as a potential, and chance for the project development.

The still globally ongoing tendency of centralisation of e.g. Production, Energy- and resource-mining etc. has lead to mono-cultures, repetitively, unification and concentration. These phenomena of Centralisation not seldom reach critical mass/state, and start to describe an independent image of Landscape, detached and desynchronized from the original appearance and functionality of its Territory it emerged from.

This centralisation of production in specific regions throughout the planet further leads to waste lands and vacuum in other regions, with tremendous socio-economic consequences. These unproductive territories tend to get more and more dependent and distant to these centers of production. As a further consequence they are trigger for environmental pollution through increase in Transport; a well-known Discussion in Tyrol.

To not just treat the Symptoms of these global trends, but to propose fundamental changes at the roots where these problems start, Alpbachtal should be seen as a prototype of a vision where production and consumption happen at the same place. Creating a decentralized, diversified productive self-sustainable new alpine landscape. „New alpine Gardens“ and technological development as well as the naturally rising temperatures could even bring Bananas, which for instance are very hard to image disappear from the fruit-shelf of our supermarkets; in a much more local, and as such also ecological distance to the consumer. Creating a bigger solution and better eco-balance, by considering the entire chain of production and consumption. References such as Plantations in Almeria and other climate regions will be considered to implement along with new technological possibilities in a new visionary alpine landscape. The enhancement of the existing and the development of new structures and forms to ensure a sustainable surface for the future in both formal and functional ways will be central aspects of the discourse. The use of GIS and the reading and extrapolating of key characteristics of alpine formation and atmospheric processes will be fundamental parameters of both, analysis and design proposal.