Filigree gateway to the mountains.
Nestled in the Allgäu Alps, the market town of Oberstdorf has developed into a renowned summer and winter sports centre. The existing valley station of the cable car to the Nebelhorn has now been replaced and supplemented, and its striking location in the centre of the village determines the basic urban and architectural concept of the project.
In order to enable a careful further development of the surrounding small-scale building structure, the various functional areas are divided into three buildings. The deliberate placement of the individual volumes organises the existing outdoor spaces and generates added value in terms of local space.
The railway station is interpreted as a natural part of Oberstdorf's public space, it serves as a central meeting point for visitors. A reduction of the architecture to pure function underlines its importance as a direct interface between the local area and the alpine landscape. A regular row of wooden parabolas encased in curved laminated safety glass creates a transparently shimmering volume that radiates lightness and openness. Depending on the direction of travel, the structure is perceived as a gateway to the mountains or the valley.
The elongated service center is essentially joined as a pure wooden construction and encloses the street space with its striking placement at the crossroads. It separates motorised traffic and the parking areas from a spacious square in direct extension of the pedestrian zone, which enables passers-by to find their way around. The covered ticket office area as well as the entrances to the shop, the toilet facilities and the ski depot are clearly and compactly laid out near the valley station, to which the administration building is directly connected to ensure smooth operations. This part of the ensemble was built in mixed construction, the ceilings and the access core are made of reinforced concrete, while the shell consists of wooden elements and, like the façade of the service building, was clad with untreated rough-sawn larch wood.
Source: HK Architekten
Photos: Bruno Klomfar
Isometrics & parts of the drawings: Jessica Dietz in the seminar FACADE 4.0
The preparatory work for this project publication was created as part of the building construction theory in the seminar FACADE 4.0 at the FATUK of the RPTU Kaiserslautern through a student paper by Jessica Dietz
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