Fantasy of architecture: Valley station of the Seiser Alm cable car by Prefa

The Seiser Alm cable car transports around 11,000 winter sports enthusiasts and summer visitors daily to the heights of one of the most beautiful mountain regions in Europe. The journey takes just 15 minutes. The cable car is a modern "ladder to heaven" – leading to the high-altitude pasture in the Dolomites, part of the UNESCO World Natural Heritage. The newly opened valley station in the mountain village of Seis am Schlern is perfectly integrated into the steep mountain massifs and the alpine landscape, thanks to its strikingly sized aluminum PREFA facade.

Seis am Schlern has remained true to its character as an original mountain village while also providing inspiration for modern architecture. The community is a popular starting point for scenic hikes to the largest high mountain pasture in Europe, covering an area of 56 square kilometers. The Seiser Alm cable car is of crucial importance for summer and winter visitors, having gained a new and exceptional architectural face during its reconstruction and modernization with the involvement of PREFA products. Despite its impressive size, the building harmoniously blends into the high mountain landscape.

TOURIST INFRASTRUCTURE BEHIND PREFA FACADES

Mountain romance? Think again! With three levels of floors covering a total area of 3,455 m², the valley station is the center of the tourist infrastructure of Seiser Alm. The largest high mountain pasture in Europe, located at elevations from 1,600 to 2,300 meters, is an ideal skiing and hiking area. In summer, high-quality hiking trails lead to pastures and peaks; in winter, skiers and snowboarders have access to 60 km of pistes and 23 ski lifts and cable cars. Thus, the valley station of the cable car must respond to the complex challenge of functionality. Within the 2,000 m² aluminum facade of the compact structure, which is visually inspired by the Dolomite mountain massif, there are a restaurant, two sports stores, a ski storage, ski service, a fast-food restaurant, a shop with regional and local products, two sales points for both ski schools, and the cable car's administrative offices.

ARCHITECTURE OF EDGES AND CORNERS

By using different angles of the PREFA facade and irregular surface breaks in the panels evoking crystals, the young architect from Bolzano, Lukas Burgauner, has successfully integrated the tourist center of the Seiser Alm area sensitively into the surrounding landscape. "Depending on the light, the massive aluminum facades appear interesting in different ways; sometimes they are powerful and imposing, other times almost invisible," says Burgauner, for whom the mountains are a second home.

STRIKINGLY INCONSPICUOUS

The valley station of the cable car presents itself as a strikingly inconspicuous monolith, clad in brown PREFA FX.12 facade panels. The architecture of the solution, which also includes ceilings, gives the entire complex a distinctive character. Irregular surface breaks in the FX.12 panels create a lively interplay of light on the facade, with the varying optical impression dependent on the angle of sunlight. The ceilings are in the anthracite color P.10, and the entrance area was completed with PREFA Sidings facade elements. Height-variable transparent lighting and glazing strips around the PREFA facade imitate the grains of quartz or crystalline veins found in the rocks. As a "mountaineer from a young age," Burgauner, an architect of South Tyrolean modernity and a native of Kastelruth, lives quite nearby and has strong roots in the bizarre, unique mountain world of the Dolomites, which has become the model for the new facade.

NOTHING NEW, BUT EVERYTHING BIGGER

The investor's requirements – the Umlaufbahn Seis - Seiser Alm AG – were simple: nothing new, but everything bigger. The challenge was primarily to unify the station and service buildings into a homogeneous whole. The goal of the reconstruction was functionality, mobility, and barrier-free access. And of course, harmonious integration into the local scenery and alpine landscape. "The 90-meter long and 25-meter wide mass of the valley station should not just be some square box, but a representative building, adapted to the landscape and organically combined into one complex with the previously built parking garage," says Burgauner. The lower level is mostly situated underground due to the object's location on a slope. To the west on the roadside, the building extends eight meters from the slope with its panoramic terrace integrated into the facade. "We had little time for execution due to uninterrupted operations. The construction phases needed to be well planned to be implemented efficiently," adds Burgauner.

DARK BROWN MONOLITH

Right in front of the building, the peak of Santnerspitze of the Schlern mountain massif impressively rises above the landscape. The steepness and color play of the surrounding rocks find their reflection in the architecture of the valley station. The choice of color for the 2,000 m² aluminum facade was purposefully derived from the landscape context. With materials that highlight