8 Questions for Matteo Thun
Botanical architecture is what star architect Matteo Thun recommends for South Tyrol: humans should build with nature and not against it. If this respect is not given, a construction stop is the cleanest solution, he explains in an interview.
August 25, 2023
In the Waldhotel Health & Wellbeing above Lake Lucerne, the guest comes into balance - also aesthetically. © Andrea Garuti
Matteo Thun was born in 1952 in Bolzano, studied architecture in Florence and Salzburg, and later taught design at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna. In 1984 he started his own business; since then he has realized prominent hotel projects and commercial buildings, designed glassware, porcelain, lighting and furniture and received various awards. From 2004 to 2006, he redesigned the façade of the Palazzo del Cinema three times for the Venice Film Festival. The father of two children attaches particular importance to sustainability - for his home South Tyrol, he calls for a respectful approach to the mountain world and warns against progressive urban sprawl in the original landscape.
Terrace architecture in the Pergola Residence, Merano. © provided
What makes South Tyrol for you?
I grew up in South Tyrol and I think the Dolomites have shaped me the most to this day - their richness of form, their feel, their incredible variety of light and shade.
What distinguishes the architecture of South Tyrol?
From an architectural point of view, the enchanting architecture of the Welzenbacher in Bad Dreikirchen or the Comici Hut at the foot of the Langkofel is fascinating. These places best convey the idea of holistic architecture: building, landscape, skiing, climbing and eating merge into a fabulous whole. I can only judge the cultural identity of South Tyrol from the outside.
In the Waldkliniken Eisenberg the patient is regarded as a guest - the interior corresponds to this. © provided
2003, so 20 years ago, you have initiated a new era of architecture in South Tyrol with the Vigilius Mountain Resort. Back then, did you already have the feeling that you were designing something groundbreaking?
Projects only ever succeed well when the dialogue with the client is right. The concept for the Vigilius Mountain Resort was created in close collaboration with Ulrich Ladurner, the first of a series of lateral entrants in the hotel business. Over time, nature has done its part and given the entire resort a beautiful patina. Thanks to the hotel management and the enormous attention to every detail, the resort is more accomplished today than it was 20 years ago. It gets more beautiful every year!
Detail from the Waldkliniken Eisenberg. © provided
Which hotels are leading the way in architecture today? What trends do you see?
Projects that are in harmony with the genius loci, that outlast generations. The demand of guests goes more and more in the direction of sustainability; it's one of the most important criteria in the selection of hotels today. The hospitality industry, after the changes in our society due to the pandemic, must rethink and focus on long-term concepts where the keywords are to reduce, to reuse and to recycle; that's, energy efficiency for new, resistant and low-pollution buildings, inclusion of the life cycle of building materials, disposal and reuse of building materials.
The private Swiss Mountain Villa. © Andrea Garuti
You were born in Bolzano and spent the first years of your life intensively in the mountains. To what extent has this shaped you?
I left Bolzano and South Tyrol as an 18-year-old, as a student, so I have a special relationship with this part of Italy. It's nature that produces the quality, not man - the main quality of South Tyrol for me are the Dolomites, they are the most beautiful mountains in the world.
The Waldhotel near Lucerne specializes in medical treatments. The architecture is also part of the well-being. ©provided
What can sustainable architecture do - what not?
The Dolomites are the main quality of South Tyrol and UNESCO World Natural Heritage, so here, you should be very careful with the construction activity and not push the urban sprawl even further. They require special respect from architects and builders. No architectural statement buildings fit here, but botanical architecture - that means building with nature and not against it. The South Tyrolean landscape should influence the architecture and not vice versa. If this isn't given, I plead for a general building stop in the Alps!
Should the alpine architecture always fit into nature?
Yes, absolutely, always. Green architecture isn't a trend - it's the return to normality.
What must be seen architecturally in South Tyrol?
The Tschögglberg farms near Jenesien and Hafling, and the MMM Messner Mountain Museum at Sigmundskron Castle. And visit the gardens of Trauttmansdorff Castle on the way to Merano!
This article appeared in the Falstaff TRAVEL issue South Tyrol Special 2023.
