Vigilius Mountain Resort is a 5-star hotel (35 rooms, 6 suites, 2 restaurants, a library, lounge, conference room, spa set over 3 levels with a pool) which interacts with surrounding nature. San Vigilio, near Merano, stand along the Valle dell’Adige 1500 metres above sea level. One of the world’s first cable cars was built in 1913 to get to San Vigilio.

Nowadays Vigilius Mountain Resort, an extension to the old Vigiljoch Hotel, can still only be reached by cable car or on foot, just one special feature of the special way it interacts with surrounding nature.

This long construction, which runs from north to south with two floors above ground and a basement, gently follows the contours of the mountainside. All around, a network of pathways strengthens the bonds between the building and local topography. Reinterpreting traditional local wooden construction, it is made of stone, wood, clay and glass. Only the basement areas are made of reinforced concrete.
From the entrance foyer, leading off to the lounge, library and two restaurants (one making use of the wood taken from an old mountain chalet), it extends over two levels in a sequence of rooms (41 in total, including 6 suites) alternating dyna¬mically with the public spaces. Right through to the south end, where there is a spa set over three levels and a pool, but first passing through an internal garden planted with larch trees forming an authentic fragment of woodlands incorporated in the architecture.
In each room, all facing east or west, clay walls separate the sleeping quarters from the bathroom. They absorb and then give off heat in winter and coolness in summer.

The accessible landscaped roof helps prevent overheating while the large glass windows exploit solar energy, adjustable shutters on the façade control the amount of shade. Everything is hermetically detailed, controlled ventilation with heat recovery and the use of radiant panels on the inside. Plus: biomass heating to help nearby farming and safe¬guard the woodlands, using low-quality wood as an energy source in the form of pellets.

All this is Vigilius Mountain Resort: a soft and elegant machine covering 1400 square meters, a luxurious object in symbiosis with the landscape, a record-breaking mix of healthiness for people and sustainability for the environment. The project won the WWF’s Golden Panda Award in 2006 and the Legaambiente/Lombardy Region Award in 2006.



Project details and credits:

Name: VIGILIUS MOUNTAIN RESORT
Cost: euro 20.000.000,00
Total area: 14.000m2


Location : Monte SanVigilio 1500, 39011 Lana, South Tyrol, Italy

Client: Dr. Schär GmbH, Winkelau 5, I – 39014 Burgstall

Design : Matteo Thun

Collaborators to the project:
Architecture: Bruno Franchi, Renato Precoma, Ulrich Pfannschmidt
Interior Architecture: Christina Von Berg, Gioia Gaio, Dorothee Maier
Local Architect: Harry Husel

Lighting: Simone Fumagalli

Comments (0)

Name

Email

Title

Comment

smaller | bigger

I have read and agree to the Terms of Usage.

Write the displayed characters

Add Comment