Techno Alpin
Bolzano, Italy
- Best Architects 14 Award (2013)


The TechnoAlpin building in Bolzano, the capital of South Tyrol, looks as if it has been sculpted from a single block of snow. Its façade shimmers with a matt, crystalline sheen, evoking the image of snow – an association deliberately created by the architectural firm to reflect the company's products: TechnoAlpin is the world market leader in the manufacture of snow-making systems. The façade structure of the 20-metre-high company headquarters reveals the individual storey levels, some of which are offset from each other. They form cantilevers of more than eight metres, which serve as a roof for the ramp and test area for the snow cannons.
The full-surface cladding made of low-iron LAMBERTS LINIT®EcoGlass “solar” allows natural light to flood into the production and storage halls. Its surface structure scatters daylight into the interior as if through a blanket of snow, creating a mild and homogeneous effect and giving the façade an elegant appearance. Backlit in the dark, the building looks like a large block of ice shimmering between the South Tyrolean mountains. The façade's appearance is broken up by offset profiled glass panels, which are installed in front of the transparent glass to create visual accents.


















