Minimalissimo

The Timmelsjoch Experience

architecture
Location
Ötztal Alps, Tyrol, Austria
Architecture
Werner Tscholl Architects

Seemingly precariously cantilevered, this faceted museum in the Alps by South Tyrolean architect Werner Tscholl is a striking minimalist sculpture. The Timmelsjoch is the deepest, non-glaciated indentation in the main Alpine ridge between the Reschen Pass and the Brenner Pass.

Situated at an elevation of 2,509 metres, the construction at the summit of the Timmelsjoch offers visitors quite an impressive sight. The museum, the foundations of which are on the North Tyrolean side but which protrudes 16 metres into South Tyrol, is housed in an "erratic boulder”. Glass covers the internal walls of the building and is faceted to resemble the inside of an icy cave. The rocks and boulders around the Timmelsjoch provided the inspiration for the museum’s design.

We didn’t want to taint the mountainsides with any additional colour. As a result of the careful integration of natural materials and colours, all the new elements take a back seat, as it were.

All together there are five sculptures to be explored. The others being two on the Austrian side called walkway and smuggler, and two on the Italian side of the road named telescope and garnets.

In the shop