The organizers of the Marmomacc stone fair in Verona, Italy, have traditionally conducted a number of programs for architects, with the goal of increasing awareness of the potential for natural stone in architecture and design. Among these is the “Building in Highlands” presentation on architecture in Alpine Switzerland, which is being coordinated by Vicenzo Pavan, the architectural consultant to Marmomacc.

“The intense and menacing development of building in the highlands seen in recent decades, essentially in the wake of mass tourism, makes comparison between an architectural concept linked with country tradition and contemporary interpretation in all its many forms even more vital,” stated the organizers. “This debate sees Marmomacc emphasize the potential offered by stone materials in this development, considering that traditional materials are the precise landmark focusing on building language - rather than formal models.”

 

In order to inspire architects to use materials that help highland architecture blend into the natural surroundings, this initiative is examining the use of natural stone on several prominent projects in Switzerland. The presentation will focus on several important and effective architectural works in Alpine areas, with the use of local and traditional stone as well as materials of other origins.

 

The program focuses on how natural materials such as wood and stone have been used to create contemporary architecture that fits the surrounding environment, and yet carries an individual identity. “Various works bear witness to the development of such research and appear with their own identity and independent theories, finally setting aside the pretext of imposing an ‘Alpine Style,’“ stated the organizers. “One of the [regions] that has most coherently followed up this approach is in Switzerland, where despite different identities, it has been possible to blend nature, technique, modernity and tradition in a creative manner - thereby ensuring special coexistence between traditional materials such as stone and wood and modern materials such as steel, glass and concrete. This line of research was already active in the early 1990s throughout Switzerland, and it has also influenced neighboring regions, thereby giving an impulse to the distribution of a contemporary language - one that embraces different types of harmony with the landscape and architectural context of mountain areas.”

 

 In presenting the program, Marmomacc has invited well-known international historians of architecture and committed architects closely involved in the themes of contemporary Alpine architecture. Examples of outstanding alpine architecture include the following renowned projects: