In The Rock, Fire Brigade Margreid

Project Description

The town of Magreid, embedded amidst vineyards and orchards and leaning on the slopes of the Mendel mountain chain, is located on the Southern Tyrol Wine Route.
Not only is the location attractive, but the unique urban structure is also enchanting. You can still recognise its medieval roots and the Renaissance is present everywhere. However, the town is willing to accept modernity.
The decision not to use (expensive) cultivated areas as construction sites for the new fire station, but to locate it inside a hill, turned out to be the best economical solution, despite technical difficulties.
Even so, the fire station is not invisible, but quite imposing.
Appropriately slanted and curved in relation to the slope of the hill, the reinforced concrete slab framing the entrances to the three apertures is a characteristic architectural element that makes this fire station visible from afar and at the same time serves as protection for the slope. A special treatment of the slab surface, with beech charcoal powder applied by high pressure to the freshly plastered walls, softens the technical roughness and establishes a relationship with the function within.
The interior of the hill is also a haptic experience, as there is no inner layer, but instead the rock surface was treated only with insulation mortar. The interior elements feature mainly stainless steel, glass and wood.