Engadin Airport, Samedan
The characteristic light of the Engadine, the soft valley floor, the sharp mountain – pointed, coloured larch forests, the ice-cold waters of the Flaz and Inn, the white-blue glaciers, the clear sky – these surroundings form the framework for the architectural project, which is locally grounded and at the same time directed towards the modern style of the “big wide world”. Nature and environment are the inspiration for the architectural themes.
The building unites and interprets opposites in both a direct and a figurative sense. The airport’s heterogeneous target group benefits: The new building is not a boring Disneyfication of alpine architecture on an oversized scale, but an authentic interpretation of the existing environment. The aesthetics of the airport interprets the existing environment in a differentiated way and thus enables a new view of the existing beauty of nature, away from clichés and brochure motifs.
Together with its surroundings, the airport is a strongly distinctive element of the valley plain and stands out in its scale from all other architecture in the Engadine. As a welcoming gate for arriving guests, an attractive programme point in the region for tourists and a place to work for locals, the building will become an important representative of the Engadine.