Verbier
has grown strongly since 1960 and expanded its central importance for
alpine tourism.
Still
dominated by traffic and therefore not providing any ambience for
strolling or resting it will not meet this significance.New
qualities must be developed to strengthen the identity of the city,
facing a fascinating mountain panorama.
To
achieve this, the spaces have to be both large and small scale:Large
in the sense of a coherent readable figure to dominate the carpet of
the dispersed settlement (TAPIS URBAIN).Small,
to meet the adaptability of the user (TECTONIQUE PROGRAMMABLE).
In
allusion to the image of the idyllic, wild mountains, the reason why
the tourists and residents spend their time here, these elements are
put in the context of the settlement and gain its new importance as a
usable and unifying element.
TAPIS
URBAIN
following
a simple rule, a continuous surface extends over the whole area:
where possible until the houses or until the boundary of private
plots.
TECTONIQUE
PROGRAMMABLE
Artificial
rock pushes literally through the homogeneous surface and deforms it
to a varied topography.
Diverse
niches, columns and terraces are emerging, borrowing their form from
the surrounding mountains, but beeing reshaped, to ensure urban
usability, and requiring the associations of users and
viewers.Situational
adapting to level differences, it is able to react on needs for
privacy / public or infrastructural requirements.
The
form language mutates towards the squares: what appears as a hairline
crack in the street, grows to `mountains` of ramps and steps, wide
clefts provide more space for shade trees and unpaved surfaces.
FORM
AND UTILIZATION
Besides
the integration of infrastructural elements like Bike sheds, ski
racks and lights, the user is required to program these forms: its
allowed to sit, lay or climb.