Unesco Visitor Center
TYPE Public-space
STATUS Competition
LOCATION Sexten, Italy
YEAR 2016
CLIENT Tourismusverein Sexten
PROJECT ARCHITECT XXX
DESIGN TEAM Eva Castro, Ulla Hell, Holger Kehne, Chuan Wang, XXX
The competition is defined by the needs to rethink the public area on which today the main associations for territorial promotion are located and to create the new building of the Visitor Center.
The site should represent the access gate to the land of Drei Zinnen.
The peculiarity of the place, with its wonderful view on the Sundial, drives the design process of Plasma Studio: each choice will be defined by the aim of enhancing the visual relationship with the natural element.
The new building itself will be called: „Sextner Sonnenuhr_ Meridiana di Sesto“.
As about the outdoor spaces, Plasma Studio decides to remove the existing hill and the other elements located in the south-west area of the site, as they create visual interference.
In this way, the view from the public space towards the Sundial is enlarged and the complex becomes immediately recognizable from the street.
The spaces are redesigned to be more fluid and interconnected, in order to allow visual permeability and flexibility of use.
The green areas, treated with grass, junipers and mountain pines, are equipped with paths and seats.
The new building of the Visitor Center is located on the southern area of the site, overlooking the pedestrian square on one side and facing the Sundial on the other.
For this reason, it is intended as a frame, able to enhance the context in which it is inserted, rather than impose itself on it.
The large outside covered space is designed to allow a flexible use, as panoramic terrace or stage during shows and events.
The inner space is divided into three areas:
The Action Area is defined by a vertical path with platforms that represent the different settings of a mountain climb; it ends in the café-shop area.
The experiential path of the climb is enhanced by the projection of videos and information on the walls.
The Information Area is located in the higher part of the building, and it is hosts three multimedia boxes where visitors can have an immersive experience diversified according to the different highs of the mountain: valley, tree line, mountaintop.
The Deceleration Area is directly connected to the Information Area and it is the real core of the building.
A large panoramic glass wall allows visitor to enjoy the panorama of the Sundial of Sexten.
A drawing of it is also present on the floor of the room: thanks to the shadow projected on it by a vertical line drown on the glass, visitors can determine the flow of time.
In this way, the immersive experience is taken to a higher level.
