Marte.Marte Architekten

Homeland museum . Schruns

source: Marte.Marte Architekten . architekturwettbewerb

Today’s Montafon Heritage Museum, formerly a residential building, situated in the centre of Schruns across from the village church, which has developed over the centuries in several phases of construction, has been returned to its original volumetry/volume/size by demolishing the extension of the 70s. In this way, its significance as a witness of traditional building culture in the Montafon region can be seen and experienced.

The additional exhibition and event facilities have been set up in the redeveloped part of the building at no. 17. Their size creates an exciting contrast to the small spaces or “chambering” of the main building. From the outside, it acts as a confident, contemporary addition to the silhouette of closely set rows of houses in the village centre. The desired presence of the heritage museum in public space has been achieved with surprising ease. The highly unsatisfactory situation of the building at no.17 today with its modern, oversized entrance to the shopping centre and the poor condition of the building is significantly improved and architecturally clarified by the new form of the building. The two exhibition rooms, one stacked upon the other, and the event hall on the top floor are based on the open-plan/large scale structure of the shopping centre and thus deftly connect two a priori different units of use. Spatial and strategic conditions have been created to possibly take advantage of interesting synergies. In the courtyard area, the existing farm building has been replaced by a four-storey, small-scale building. The library and administration are housed in this building. Its expression reminds one of a small workshop, which profits from the newly created courtyard space. Today’s back courtyard situation has been enhanced significantly. The side entrance of the shopping centre and the entrances to the residential section of the building above the centre are connected directly to the church square via the courtyard. In this way, the permeability and quality of public space, its small-scale structure, is improved considerably. The heritage museum literally becomes an integral part of the place in that its buildings make a direct, physical contribution to the identity of the village centre. The convincing feature of the design is its conceptual clarity. If homeland (Heimat) means creating identity, then the project authors have succeeded in giving an excellent urban development, functional and architectural answer to the very challenging task of incorporating and repositioning the new heritage museum in the village and in the valley.The project has good prospects of being realised in an economic and sustainable way.