Weiterbauen am Land – Rural Building in the Alpine Region
“Weiterbauen am Land” (building on in the countryside) is more than a title – it is an attitude that has shaped our work for two decades. In the Alpine region, building almost always means building on: on a farmstead, on a village, on a landscape that has evolved over generations.
The term points to a field of tension. On one side are heritage, an identity that has grown over time and locally typical ways of building. On the other are population shifts, demographic gaps, vacant farmsteads, tourism pressure and new housing needs. Anyone who “builds on in the countryside” has to mediate between these poles – with a sense of proportion, with knowledge of materials, with patience in the approval process.
Stadt:Labor – Architekten has been working in this field of tension for more than 20 years. Examples include our farmhouse refurbishments in East Tyrol and the Puster Valley, our neighbourhood developments in Tyrolean and South Tyrolean municipalities and our involvement in building archaeology projects on monuments that define the character of their villages. “Weiterbauen am Land” brings these fields of activity together under a shared self-understanding – and is at the same time the title of several lectures and discussion formats in which we have taken part.