The Dolomiti Open Museum
A hut in the form of a village in the Veneto Dolomites
It is not an everyday occurrence to plan buildings at an altitude of 2.000 metres, especially if it doesn’t only concern the planning of a shelter, but also a place to meet in the evening, to eat looking at the surrounding mountains, to stop in a bar, to do “shopping” in small specialized shops, to visit an “Ice-cream museum” that characterises the economy of the Zoldo Valley.
The great load of the snow on the roofs, the necessity to shovel it from the roof and to protect staircases and ramps from the atmospheric agents and the 30/40° of difference between the temperature inside and outside the buildings set to similar altitude in the winter period, are the principal factors that govern the game of the forms and the architecture in the mountains.
Therefore, compositional complexity must be considered when approaching the new shelter of the Pian del Crep in a “suburb”, resulting nearer to an “urban” collection of buildings rather than a unitary solution.
It is not an ideological choice but a reasoning on the coverage, on the inclinations of the ground, on the accesses, on the views.
The sensational mountains of The Dolomites create the perfect scenography for the new refuge. With them the project becomes rich with privileged places: the Pelmo and Civetta mountains, the Moiazza and the sight on the terminal part of the Val Zoldana with the historical area of Coi, the famous tops of the group of Monti della Schiara.
Like a historical village, a privileged central place articulated on multiple levels, there is the heart of the project: an articulated roof covers the small “square”, a place for meeting, for small live concerts, to stay and to refresh.
A cortain boardwalk suspended to the centre of the plaza juts out resulting in a 200° view of the splendid dolomitic frame. It is the apex of a walkway that is placed side by side with the slopes of the hill, rising among the rock walls and arriving at the summit of the Crep.
From here the wood and metal coverage of the new refuge can be seen, which, articulated according to various inclinations, seems to wave under the light of the sun, playing between shades and planes of light. It gathers, under a unique and complex system of trusses, the two restaurants, open also in the evening hours, the shops, cafe, ski schools and spaces of service. Great solariums stretch out from the coverage to enjoy the warm rays during the day, always admiring the tops of the Dolomites of the Zoldo Valley.
