The new Fanton Bivouac is a protective shell at high altitude, a rough-hewn sloped volume that inhabits the Marmarole saddle in the Dolomites, a boundless space at 2667 m.a.s.l, a context made of rock, light, wind, snow and distances.
Its fibreglass body bends along the cliff profile and draws a visual tracer, an attempt to amplify and frame the landscape, a space coagulated around the tension between the vastness of the natural architecture of the Alps and the minute one of the bivouac
Local
Italy
Auronzo di Cadore (BL)
Mainly rural
It refers to other types of transformations (soft investment)
No
No
Yes
2021-08-28
As an individual in partnership with other persons
First name: Alberto Last name: Mottola Gender: Male Nationality: Italy Address (country of permanent residence for individuals or address of the organisation)<br/>Street and number: DEMOGO studio di architettura, via Cornarotta 14 Town: Treviso Postal code: 31100 Country: Italy Direct Tel:+39 0422 412565 E-mail:info@demogo.it Website:http://www.demogo.it/
The Marmarole are a wild and inaccessible mountain range, the saddle where the project is located is a boundless space at 2667 meters above sea level, a context made of rock, light, wind, snow and distances. High-altitude architecture takes on an extreme meaning, everything seems to expand in the perception of the extended space. Emotionally opposing instances emerge such as the desire to explore and move in this expanded space and the need to protect oneself and take refuge, the need to rediscover a human dimension. The Bivouac Fanton is a project of proportions between absolute and measure, a minute work that finds its dimension in the possibility of perceptive amplification; living inside of it means placing oneself between the lenses of a telescope, it is the attempt to frame the space, to circumscribe it, making it a work of connection between man and the environment, to define a caesura capable of finding a temporary border to the landscape, a form of progressive compression of rocks, light, wind and snow.
It is an unstable equilibrium, which is substantiated in the internal space of the project: a wooden belly that softens the impact of wild nature, then the glass fibre which thickens layer by layer, like a second skin that becomes shell and structure together. Externally, its formal appearance takes on the features of a rough-hewn volume suspended on a bristling cliff, a waiting body stretched out into the void, intent on opening a spatial dimension beyond its own internal geometry.
A volume defined by nature, an architecture characterized by a strongly inclined profile that adapts itself to the orography of the Marmarole. A section that maintains its strong value in the internal space, becoming its generating element, organizing the internal space upwards following it along the longitudinal axis, generating an axis that connects the site and the Auronzo valley.
Extreme environment
Habitat
Oblique Dimension
Exploration
Emotional Perception
The project aims to define a design solution that guarantees the lowest possible impact on the mountainous context of the Dolomites while providing a self-sufficient habitat to shelter visitors from the impervious conditions of the outside.
The anchoring takes place in 3 points, minimising the building's footprint on the ground and proposing a reversibility of the intervention, with the possible removal of the elevated structure, restoring the ground to its original orographic conditions. The structure doesn't touch the soil but chooses to lean lightly: it is an architecture that doesn't touch the ground but creates a suspension and moves parallel to it, undermining itself and blending into its context.
To fulfil the main task of the bivouac, namely to create a thermally comfortable shelter habitat in extreme climatic conditions, it was decided to use a high-performance fibreglass shell derived from the nautical construction. This material allows to merge of the insulation and load-bearing functions into a single element, minimising the weight of the structure and making it easier to transport and assemble at height, reducing the total number of trips required. In addition to fulfilling the structural function and contributing to the insulation of the interior, the fibreglass shell is made of highly durable and recyclable material.
The bivouac's high thermal efficiency makes it a self-sufficient habitat, capable of producing energy for its minimum functions (lighting and recharging electrical devices) thanks to the photovoltaic storage system and preserving the internal temperature in the absence of heating elements.
Designing a frontier architecture in an extreme territory deprived of anthropised references allows to focus the attention on the individual dimension of man and his relationship with the landscape. Here the minute spatiality of the architecture is confronted with the enormous scale of the surrounding context: the aesthetic of the new bivouac arises from the landscape, from the lines of tension in the existing orography, emerging as a volume hewn from nature, suspended above the slope.
The contradiction between anchoring and suspension lives on an ambivalent relationship that keeps them tied together. The structure finds its balance by leaning on the ground, in a balance that is both firm and perceptively precarious at the same time. The project develops solutions aimed to produce continuity of experience and probe the mixing of protection and risk, nature and artifice, fear and desire that make alpinism so personally involving.
The enclosed dimension of the bivouac constitutes its inclined habitat, parallel to the ground below pointing downstream. It is an inhabitable telescope that frames the context of the Municipality of Auronzo di Cadore and enhances the landscape. The Bivacco Fanton is crossed by a staircase, which creates the spatial section suitable for the movement of the gaze that echoes the movement on the impervious dimension of the context in which it is located. The staircase describes a central void and ends in a meeting point: a room reaching out into the void, set up by convivial functions, defined by linear seats that face each other. Within this boundary closed by a sloping glass surface exposed on the cliff, it is possible to redefine the relationship of one’s body with the scale of the surrounding mountains.
Two cuts that taper both ends of the telescope introduce a faceted geometry that, along with the striated texture of the metal envelope, makes the building similar to a boulder in a fractured landscape of rocks.
Since the dawn of mountaineering, when it was not yet a sporting practice but a means of scientific knowledge and aesthetic contemplation, the alpine bivouac has been a place where man comes into full contact with the surrounding nature. A temporary shelter that separates him from the adverse conditions of the outside environment but at the same time allows him to contemplate its grandeur and strength. The bivouac is by its very nature an emergency structure that must be accessible 365 days a year, in all weather conditions and by anyone who needs it.
At the same time, the bivouac is a place where man rediscovers the importance of the relational dimension and of sharing, an intimate space characterised by a mixture of spaces and functions that is atypical with respect to the common experience of life.
The problem of the accumulation of snow is solved by raising the entire structure above ground level: In order to offer less grip to snow, the bivouac floats in the air, just supported by three, almost invisible posts embedded in the rock. This solution not only makes the bivouac easily accessible even in the presence of 2 metres of snow, but also generates a viewpoint that is higher than the common walking level, giving the visitor the sensation of being suspended on the mountain ridge.
The development of the project along the slope is used to rethink the coexistence of the guests within it: the different levels of the environment create an immediate spatial hierarchy according to their different degrees of privacy. The lower, more open level directly overlooks the valley and is connoted as an environment for meeting and discussion. The communal space continues longitudinally in the opposite direction, heading towards the peaks behind, through different levels leading to the most intimate areas, the niches serving as resting areas.
The New Bivouac Fanton arose from the need to replace the old bivouac, an outdated and now unused prefabricated model set up in 1963 in Alta Val Baion (1750 m), with a new structure capable of giving a new interpretation of living at high altitude, located in the position initially planned, at Forcella Marmarole (2665 m),
The location in Val Baion had been chosen for logistical reasons, i.e. the difficulty of transporting materials up to the Marmarole, 1000 metres higher up, due to adverse weather conditions. However, this solution compromised the accommodation capacity of the bivouac and its usefulness to the community.
The relocation of the bivouac to its original altitude made it possible to offer mountaineers a foothold to be able to explore the nearby peaks, fitting into the Alte Vie - which are high-altitude itineraries, from refuge to shelter, to immerse themselves in the environment of the Dolomites.
The construction of the New Bivouac Fanton was able to reconnect this original itinerary, creating new routes of exploration for the area and increasing the number of visitors. The construction of the new bivouac also allowed the creation of a network of local companies, enthusiasts and volunteers which took part in the realisation of the project.
The Auronzo di Cadore section is one of the oldest sections of CAI (Italian Alpine Club), founded in 1874, and has as its aim the promotion of alpinism, the knowledge and study of the mountains and the defence of their natural environment.
Within this mission of protecting and enhancing the heritage of the Dolomites, lies the vision and farsightedness that led CAI Auronzo in 2014 to promote a design competition to develop a meritocratic and qualitative process for the replacement of the old Fanton bivouac (now degraded and unfit for use).
The competition, organised in collaboration with the Fondazione Architettura Belluno Dolomiti, brought together over 250 projects from Italian and international firms to develop a contemporary vision of architecture at high altitude. After a long selection process, the project by the DEMOGO studio was chosen, and in 2021 the work was inaugurated and opened to visitors.
In a cultural environment strongly characterised by a traditional vision of architecture, the CAI of Auronzo di Cadore followed the entire design process, immediately showing its willingness to invest in innovative architectural language at high altitudes, and enthusiastically welcomed the innovations proposed during the development of the project.
Given the particular logistical and environmental challenges involved in a completely heli-transported construction site, CAI's capillary presence throughout the territory was fundamental in involving in the construction process not only local workers specialised in high-altitude architecture but first and foremost figures with a shared passion for the mountain environment, creating cohesion between the work team and the client, to build a new contemporary architecture in the Dolomites and for the Dolomites.
The Bivouac Fanton experiences a continuous contrast between suspension from the mountain and physical anchoring to it. Each design element required an enormous in-depth effort. There aren’t standard elements in this project: from the profiles of the windows to the composite weaving of fibreglass and carbon fibre manufactured according to nautical knowledge and skills, from the anchor points reduced to only three central pillar supports, to the entire wooden interior shaped and moulded with precision within the exterior shelter; to the metal skin which mends the edges and the suspended oblique lines. The use of technology to overcome limitations was a central principle to support the critical process of the evolution of the project. Civil engineering, mechanical engineering, naval engineering, aerodynamics, chemistry, and geometry are mixed in this project, to answer the persistent question that constantly fueled the studies: how can it react in these extreme conditions?
Each response was necessary to find that “dynamic in action” to create this space at high-altitude. This idea of dynamics is present all the construction process. The Bivacco Fanton is an architecture in motion, transported on a ship for miles, helicopter-borne, suspended in the void like a fragile body seeking a new position in the landscape. It’s a powerful image that describes a space capable of absorbing different efforts, landscapes, and different emotions.
the New Bivouac Fanton has opened up in the architectural debate a new and unexplored imagery towards high altitudes, an exploratory vision that brings the individual face to face with the evocative value of the mountain. The project does not merely seek a functional resolution but seeks to trigger an emotional relationship between man and nature, a deeper relationship that goes beyond the mere satisfaction of a practical need. The project raised questions about the rhythms of life, how we inhabit space, our relationship with nature and our ability to explore a space. This contributed to making the bivouac a new point of interest within the landscape of the Dolomites, intercepting and stimulating the desire for a new relationship of discovery towards nature, an escapist research towards an individual dimension of relationship with boundless nature.
It immediately became a fundamental point within hiking itineraries, as part of a route that sees it simultaneously as a destination and as a place of passage and preparation for continuing one's journey, allowing mountaineers to open up new routes up unexplored slopes in the Marmarole chain and, as a point of shelter and emergency shelter, fundamental for hikers in difficulty.
The project has been published in several international magazines and websites (such as L’architecture d’Aujourd’ hui, Area, Domus, Archdaily, Designboom) and has been selected in 2018 for the curatorial program “Arcipelago Italia” exposed at the 16th Architecture Biennale of Venezia.
The New Bivouac Fanton has won several awards, In particular, In 2018 was awarded as the winner of the 6th edition of the Gold Medal Prize for Italian Architecture, Tyoung Claudio De Albertis section, and in 2022, the Barbara Capocchin International Architecture Prize, regional category.
The original drawings of the project were acquired by the MAXXI museum in Rome and are part of the permanent collection of its archive
As the altitude increases and becomes less inhabitable, human presence concentrates into highly artificial survival bubbles, technical items able to cope with tough conditions, more site-specific than contextual, produced rather than built, transported rather than constructed, held rather than founded, alien rather than nested, designed as serial objects rather than individual architectures. Bivouacs do not escape these rules, not only because of the stringent logic that shaped them, from fabrication reasons to use purposes, but also in order to arrange a perceptual and existential rest within the threatening experience of the mountain.
Designing the Bivouac Fanton, we decided to challenge the whole set of typologies, solutions, expectations, and habits strictly connected to the construction at high altitude. As a first move, the new bivouac steps beyond horizontality, the fundamental act of harnessing the wild, especially when dealing with extreme site morphologies. Instead of carving or constructing a flat location (a standard condition to place standard objects), the project accepts the existing complexity of the orography, leaving the sloping terrain at the Forcella Marmarole almost untouched. The project saw there the opportunity to follow the steep inclination of the site by placing an inclined, elongated element, which seems ready to slide downhill and fall into the precipice. The precarious oddity of its appearance comes out therefore intensified, a sensation that is further accelerated by experiencing the interior. A huge, inclined glass wall here integrates the rare, small openings of the typical metal boxes that work as unattended shelters for climbers and hikers. Placed at the lower end of this sort of inclined square tube, the big window transforms it into a telescope looking onto the abyss toward the valley of Auronzo, eighteen hundred meters below.
The architecture of the Bivouac Fanton is based on the act of inhabiting the oblique space, tracing the line of tension trying to create a new balance to withstand the unfavourable conformation of the mountain. Here man and architecture live in symbiosis the overhang, they inhabit it by resting on it and breathing the hypnotic power of deep space. The complexity and fragility of the Alpine environment are addressed through individual actions. The design and development process of the opera can be traced back to three key issues: anchoring, suspension and habitat. These themes intertwine and recompose in the oblique dimension of the bivouac: here technical and theoretical aspects have fuelled an aptitude for experimentation at multiple levels. We can find the oblique dimension in the decomposition of the forces on the ground, in the refutation of artificial flat space. In this work, everything lives in a sense of adaptation to a place while trying to find support, a momentarily stable point within the overhang. The oblique dimension is a possibility of movement, but first of all a line of thought: an internal movement that turns our balance in tension. The oblique dimension means losing balance, through the extension of our limbs towards the void to re-read reality. Living the incline requires the ability to redefine oneself in movement. Imagine the body during a climbing ascent on a mountain wall: any imbalance is functional to the redefinition of the positioning of one’s body; in this sense, climbing means moving weights in an unfavourable condition. To obtain this spatial prefiguration, technology plays a central role. The technology is understood as organic and inorganic instrumentation capable of pushing us towards a predetermined outcome. As the alpinist draws the route, the architect anticipates a spatial vision, and through the project obtains the internal and external instrumentation to draw the outcome, until its realization.
The Bivouac Fanton project stimulates reflection on four themes related to its design development process that can be transferred to other fields of research in architecture:
- Willingness to question established typologies, stimulating research that focuses on the experience of the individual user and the community and its relationship with the context. In the particular case of high-altitude architecture, stimulating a site-specific approach, as opposed to the top-down approach of predefined and standardised solutions;
- Holistic approach to the project, combining typological-formal research with research into materials from different fields, from construction materials required to withstand the extreme stresses of heli-transportation, to those relating to the internal comfort of environments, their durability over time and physical perception;
- Combination of craftsmanship with innovative technologies for production and control at all stages of the project, with the aim of preserving the specific know-how of the material and its development over time: working with a team of expert carpenters has made it possible to optimise the production of the CNC milled wooden interior and to carefully choose the material and the relative processes required to guarantee its durability over time;
- Continuous and direct relationship with the client (who in the specific case of the Bivouac Fanton was also the end user's representative) in order to tailor the project to the end user's needs.
Regardless of its diminutive scale, the project contains a high degree of complexity which stimulates reflection on several themes of global interest, primarily minimal living and the physical relationship of the
The small size of the project confronts the contemporary problem of minimal living. The spatial and functional optimisation of 30 square metres for 12 people leading to the elimination of single-function or redundant spaces is an idea which can be applied far beyond the dictates of the extreme conditions of the bivouac and finds applications both in short-term post-disaster scenarios as well as in small scale apartments in highly populated metropolitan areas
Architecture at high altitudes has always been a source of technological experimentation given the extreme stresses it has to cope with. The use of construction techniques from different fields of research allows cross-contamination of skills between architects and technicians that leads to innovative applications in the sphere of living
The Bivouac Fanton stems from an adaptive response to existing conditions that allow for a rethinking of the relationship between man, architecture and the environment, exploiting the characterising elements to make contact with the environmental condition, amplifying the sensorial component of the relationship with nature.
Instead of bending the environmental reality to create a standardised acontextual comfort zone, the project emphasises the importance of site-specific intervention, and how the challenge of having to deal with a strongly characterised context leads to the creation of a project strongly connected with the surrounding environment and capable of amplifying its beauty.
