The aim was to transform the family-resort „Ulrichshof“ combining psychology with architecture through a collective ethos of working within a network of creatives. The team of architects, interior designers, children-psychologists, researchers, fashion-designers and lighting-artists approached the project from outside, sharpening their focus on the essentials.
We are not in search of simplistic solutions, if so we would have plastered the spaces with random mystical names and filled the rooms with empty, easily decodable stuff.“
Architects: Noa* – network of architecture, Arch. Lukas Rungger
Team Member: Arch. Stefan Rier
Country: Italy
The former grand farm, the bavarian forest, the very special site, a built context full of history and the intuition for numerous hidden potentials simply woke up the desire to research the area and its environment. Together with their network they invented a sustainable concept for the future „Ulrichshof“.
During the early phase of conception we were wandering around for hours in the nearby forest, trying to discover hidden but yet crucial elements of the existing farm, even by sending around a drone to give us a different point of view“. Those moments were very inspiring. The darkness of the woods after a while exposed stories of foxes, fairies and ghost that influenced the design.
The conversion and transcription of fairy-tales into a act of creativeness, a momentum of comunication between children and adults, were the result of an intense and collectively condensed thinking-process within the network.
Architecture and Interiors as a contrasting unity: The bavarian forest forms the narrative frame for the entire project. It forms „Leitbild“ and reaches out…and into the built volumes. The soul of the historic building, the former farm was awarded with a new sense of contemporary exposures, while still remaining truely respectful in terms of building size: not a single volume raises above the surrounding trees.
A leading role for the energy of the place: The hotel is reinvented and a “stage”, a platform for the concealed is formed. The glazed facade of the lobby and the “Waldpassage” dissolve the built volumes and re-enact the bavarian forest. The character of the surrounding forest becomes a design principle for the internal spaces. At the same time it is the basis of a magical stage for fables and fairy-tales.
Various “touching points” are implemented with maximum care and crafts. Traces of animals carved into wooden panels become physical and visual moments of attraction. Full hight glazing panels open up the main views towards the outside.
Fairy-tales without “pretentious kitsch: While parents decode simbols and images mainly through a visual experience, children learn and understand in their very own way, they interweave their experiences by touching, listening, feeling…they follow traces from the lobby to corridors right into their private rooms and suites, where carved animal footprints (as part oft he wooden furniture) recall the intensity of experiences in nature. The nearby forest underlines the vanishing borders between reality and tale. The central lobby is bordered by bridges, paths and alleys. They are in contrast towards the organic shapes of architecture and design elements.
