Location | Altdorf UR |
Client | Stiftung für einen Ort der Besinnung an der A2 in Uri |
Commission | Competition 1996, 2nd Prize |
Architects | Graber & Steiger Architekten |
Consultants | Father Marin Graber, Baldegg monastery |
The high-speed journey on the motorway between northern Europe and the South causes a changed perception of spatial and temporal dimensions: Stretches that structure the route can hardly be recognised, since one’s awareness of the landscape through which one travels is only fleeting, thereby largely dissolving one’s own relationship to the environment. This dynamic situation is countered by a «place of contemplation». A solid, layered envelope made of stone creates a peaceful retreat that is protected from weathering and the busy motorway. The interior, which is divided in a cruciform way, guides visitors step by step to a place of spiritual reflection: the entrance area that receives its visitors; the long, narrow room with a panorama window that directs one’s view towards nature; the dark, composed contemplation room that allows one to direct one’s thought inwards. Along the River Reuss, a soothing, meditative walkway includes text passages from different world religions, recalling the collective knowledge of the world community.
As a part of “Adda Collective” we are selected to participate in the „Korail Residency 2024“, which is embedded in the “Korail City of Culture” initiative in Dhaka/Bangladsh.
The project „Korail City of Culture“, which focuses on Dhaka's largest informal settlement, is a sustainable urban development initiative supported by the Creative Economy Programme of the Federal Foreign Office in Germany, in collaboration with Goethe-Institut Bangladesh and its local counterpart, Paraa, and international partner, Floating e.V.. The project aims to support cultural practitioners and producers living, working, and playing in Korail in establishing sustainable cultural practices, and to feed this knowledge back into processes of global and local learning and teaching on sustainable urban development.
The projects and works that are developed during the Korail residency program shall be part of the „Maja-Kori“ Design Festival in and around Korail Basti in December 2024.
Adda Collective is a multidisciplinary and mutinational team formed around „Adda Space“ Dhaka/Bangladesh and Graber & Steiger Architects, Lucerne/Switzerland. For further information you may also check Instagram @grabersteiger @adda.dhaka.
Image: Goethe Institute Bangladesh