Cliffhanger: Zaha Hadid’s Messner Mountain Museum is carved into Mount Kronplatz
The Messner Mountain Museum is Zaha Hadid's third project in the Alps, following her seminal Bergisel Ski Jump - a project that despite its relatively small scale has been landmark in the architect's early career - and the 2007 Norpark Cable railway station, both in Innsbruck. The architect's new alpine adventure, officially inaugurated this month, is equally fairly modest in scale, but not ambition. it is also unashamedly modern, featuring the office's signature architecture curves.
Masterfully carved into the top of Mount Kronplatz, some 2,275m above sea level, this new museum dedicated to mountain climbing sits at the heart of South Tyrol's most popular ski resort in the Dolomites. This is the sixth and final such museum created in collaboration with renowned mountaineer Reinhold Messner - the existing ones in Firmian, Dolomites, Juval, Ripa and Ortles are scattered across the region, designed by different architects.
Hadid's Messner Mountain Museum in Corones is embedded into the ground across 1,000 sq m, with three periscope-like element made of glass-reinforced fibre concrete jutting out from the hill, indicating its presence. Large windows at each end frame the mountain views, bringing plenty of natural light deep into the structure. The building spans three main levels, including ample exhibition space, offices and a cinema. Its 40-50cm thick walls and 70cm thick roof support the earth around it and protect it from the harsh winters.
The displays present the development of modern mountaineering and 250 years of progress in terms of the climbers' equipments. The architecture team aimed to take the visitors into a journey inside the mountain's grottos, Hadid explains, before leading them out to the terrace on the opposite side, at the lowest level, to experience panoramic views of the region.
The museum is a mirror of the world of my childhood,' says Messner. 'The Geislerspitzen, the central buttress of the Heiligkreuzkofel (the most difficult climb in my whole life) and the glaciated granite mountains of the Ahrn Valley.'
Surrounded by the famous peaks of the Zillertal, Ortler and Dolomites, the new Messner Mountain Museum is immersed into its surroundings, at one with its rocky context.
Wallpaper* Newsletter
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox
Ellie Stathaki is the Architecture & Environment Director at Wallpaper*. She trained as an architect at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in Greece and studied architectural history at the Bartlett in London. Now an established journalist, she has been a member of the Wallpaper* team since 2006, visiting buildings across the globe and interviewing leading architects such as Tadao Ando and Rem Koolhaas. Ellie has also taken part in judging panels, moderated events, curated shows and contributed in books, such as The Contemporary House (Thames & Hudson, 2018), Glenn Sestig Architecture Diary (2020) and House London (2022).
-
The Macallan Horizon with Bentley Motors is a decadent whisky with a luxurious twist
The Macallan and Bentley Motors release ‘The Macallan Horizon’, a single malt whisky with a 180-degree twisted presentation
By Tianna Williams Published
-
Ruby Dickson’s Kim Kardashian paintings explore celebrity culture in London
Ruby Dickson’s ‘Maybe my fairy-tale has a different ending than I dreamed it would. But that’s OK’ is exhibiting at Nicoletti gallery, London
By Sam Moore Published
-
Mayfair’s Murano offers beautiful design and incisively cooked food
Angela Hartnett’s Murano celebrates 15 years of Italian supremacy in London with a fresh look by Fabled Studio
By Sofia de la Cruz Published
-
Giovanni Michelucci’s dramatic concrete church in the Italian Dolomites
Giovanni Michelucci’s concrete Church of Santa Maria Immacolata in the Italian Dolomites is a reverently uplifting memorial to the victims of a local disaster
By Jonathan Glancey Published
-
Milan’s 10 Corso Como revamp nods to the concept store’s industrial character
Milanese concept store 10 Corso Como unveils its new look by 2050+, a stripped-back design that nods to its 20th-century character
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
Carlo Ratti announced curator of Venice Architecture Biennale 2025
Carlo Ratti has been revealed as the Director of the Architecture Department at the Venice Architecture Biennale 2025, with the specific task of curating the 19th International Architecture Exhibition
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
Floating infinity pool by Herzog & De Meuron at Lake Como is largest of its kind
Herzog & de Meuron creates the largest floating infinity pool in the world for Mandarin Oriental in Lake Como
By Lauren Ho Published
-
The finest brutalist architecture in London and beyond
For some of the world's finest brutalist architecture in London and beyond, scroll below. Can’t get enough of brutalism? Neither can we.
By Jonathan Bell Published
-
Best of brutalist Italian architecture chronicled in new book
Brutalist Italian architecture enthusiasts and concrete completists will be spoilt for choice by Roberto Conte and Stefano Perego’s pictorial tour
By Jonathan Bell Published
-
Studio Tropicana, Switzerland and Italy: Wallpaper* Architects’ Directory 2023
Based in Switzerland and Italy, Studio Tropicana is part of the Wallpaper* Architects’ Directory 2023, our annual round-up of exciting emerging architecture studios
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
WeWork Meravigli blends past and present in a 21st-century office space
WeWork Meravigli launches in Milan, bringing its ornate, historical new home to the 21st century
By Ellie Stathaki Published