Umbrüggler Alm | Austria | Ludescher + Lutz Architekten

In the middle of towering spruces and steep slopes, a clearing in the forest welcomes the hiker or skier. It is a place that invites you to stay a while, offering sunshine and a view. To make the most of these two features, the building has been situated on the upper edge of the existing meadow, directly below the forest path. A restaurant garden invites with open access, while the structure provides cover from behind to guests; a shingled roof offers protection from sun and weather, and from a distance the chimney visibly signals a place of hospitality.

The landscape has been subtly altered to accommodate the alpine inn, with the terrace made to rise quite naturally from the surrounding terrain. People can come and go, see and be seen here at leisure. Long benches stretch along the perimeter of the building, allowing visitors to take in the view of the Inn Valley while sheltered from the wind. At points where no illumination or access to the structure is needed, there is also no façade – the volume is submerged in the terrain. The roof, symbolically made of larch shingles, varies in slope along the span of its organically designed ground plan. Grey with weathering, the roof takes its place among the silhouettes of the mountain spruces.