Alpine theater

“Precisely the mountain, a majestic presence full of energy, becomes the proving ground of our intervention,” says the architect Christian Rottensteiner, partner of studio noa*. “The Zugspitze, in particular, for its beauty, force and formal complexity, is clearly the source of inspiration and the protagonist of the project. The new wellness area, in fact, has been envisioned as the seating area of a theater from which to enjoy the extraordinary spectacle of nature, relaxing in total tune with the landscape. Our challenge was to create works of architecture that expand and intensify the perception of the spaces. Places capable of offering wellbeing and new emotions.”

The wellness area of 600 m2 combines an indoor zone, built from scratch, and an outdoor zone featuring a swimming pool.

The constructed portion extends horizontally to form an artificial ridge, matching the nearby stone walls and conceived to adapt to the contours of the terrain – but also to the culture and history of the site.

Slightly sloping, the structure in glass and concrete is organized on two levels, with a shift that has also made it possible to create the volume for the pool.

The new construction is a work of rational and sober architecture, the result of the grouping of simple geometric parts: glass cubes assembled on two levels to form a structural grid that becomes the skeleton of the building.

The choice of a reflecting glass surface emphasizes the theatrical effect: the volumes almost vanish, become a sort of screen on which to ‘stage’ the gigantic silhouette of the Zugspitze.

The swimming pool placed along the glass facade of the spa doubles the image of the mountain in a game of chromatic reflections.

While the outside of the building is simple and rigorous, inside the lines become more organic, sinuous and enveloping. The difference of language between inside and outside gives the wellness experience multiple forms of perception.

The lounge areas are organized as theatrical stages oriented towards the mountain.

The pool, a natural extension of the wellness area, extends from inside to outside to offer relaxation areas with different sensorial experiences. Six box-islands punctuate the pool, visually echoing the geometric structure of the building that faces them: here, however, the whole is dematerialized, losing its density to free up the view of the landscape.