TREEHUGGER, TOURIST INFORMATION OFFICE IN BRESSANONE, BOLZANO
A new urban hub in dialogue with the historic town
MoDus Architects
TreeHugger is the new Tourist Information Office building of Bressanone, located just outside the historical centre of the South Tyrolean city. The project raises its body on tiptoe and frees up the ground level to give it over to the city as a public space.
The site is characterized by an existing monumental platanus that governs the design. TreeHugger twists and turns around the central tree to form an inseparable connection between nature and architecture. With the tree trunk as the fulcrum, five arched spans release the building from the ground, accompanying the tree upwards to draw an open frame around the tree’s crown. The building is almost entirely glazed on the ground floor, which houses the public spaces and info booths, to allow maximum transparency and permeability. With its welcoming curves balanced by the decisive concrete tectonic, TreeHugger strikes up a conversation with its historical context while organically attracting passersby and visitors as a magnet devoted to the sharing of local culture.
