NOA Network of Architecture Builds a Floating Structure in the Ötztal Alps
December 18, 2020
By Wilson Barlow
Humans have been conquering Europe’s Ötzal Alps for over 5,000 years. Take Ötzi, a Copper Age man whose perfectly preserved remains were found embedded in the glacial ice on the border of Austria and Italy in 1991. Not far from there is something prehistoric man may have never imagined: a viewing platform perched at the summit of the towering Grawand mountain. The structure, by NOA Network of Architecture, floats weightlessly on the tip-top of a rocky pile of shale and gneiss at an elevation of more than 10,500 feet. NOA calls it Ötzi Peak, and it’s made of only two materials: glass and Cor-Ten steel, a necessity given the site’s challenges; materials had to be durable enough to withstand the harsh Alpine conditions. Each piece had to be flown in by helicopter and assembled without heavy machinery. “There’s no standard process for a site like this,” NOA
Italy
Maso-corto
Trentino-alto-adige
Austria
Italian
Alex-fitz
Andreas-profanter
Glacier-hotel-grawand
Network-of-architecture
Copper-age
Ice-man
இத்தாலி