„Vacation in the winterly mountains provides me with a feeling of freedom and boundlessness.“

We all know that with their works, which often reflect the spirit of the time, artists are often only perceptible in museums. Architecture also reflects this spirit of the age, but it is omnipresent for everyone. It is, in this respect, lived art. Just as visual arts have their freedom of expression, the architect can express this freedom through formal language and materiality. Whenever I think of it, I feel reminded of my last winter sports holiday in the Zillertal Alps.

Why can a connection arise here?

Vacation in the winterly mountains provides me with a feeling of freedom and boundlessness.

To enjoy the first rays of sunlight rising slowly behind the mountains and throw their golden yellow light on fresh snow.

To sit with friends in the first gondola, to be carried up to the top of the mountain, then to choose the downhill drive in a free decision and to leave one’s tracks in the fresh snow first – this is pure freedom for me.

The fact that architects leave their mark and nowadays have much greater freedoms than in earlier times can also be seen in the mountains. A building, as seen in the pictures, with its large-sized mirror surfaces, would not have been possible 100 years ago. While in former times the huts on the mountains had to be built primarily after considerations concerning functionality – small rooms, small windows, regional materials, easy to transport –, the architect of today has far fewer limits. Finding a symbiosis between a still necessary functionality and creative freedom is an exciting challenge for me, which accompanies me in my everyday life as an architect.