One of the best architectural commissions in the world is now on view in a small mountainous region of Austria called the Bregenzerwald. The project involves seven bus stops on the bus routes round the small village of Krumbach (1,000 souls) including stops built by the team who did the nest at the Chinese Olympics, and the Chilean architect of last year’s Serpentine Pavilion.
Buses are extremely important in the Bregenzerwald. Mountainous, with scattered farms and villages, the area needs the Land bus which often hourly( and always on the dot) plies its way connecting the farmers, their children, the visitors, the shoppers and the workers from towns back home. But when the mayor of Krumbach had the idea of commissioning international architects to design bus stops for his area he had another thought in mind in addition to the comfort of the passengers.
The Bregenzerwald , on the Austrian border with Switzerland, a gloriously beautiful set of valleys and mountains, is home to a thriving and high quality craft tradition mainly centred on wood but also taking in metal and wool. The mayor and organisers of the bus stop project wanted to show local skills, bring great architects to the Bregenzerwald and introduce the wider world to the heaven- in their view- that is their region.
The story of the seven bus stops is an object lesson in community, aesthetics, imagination, generosity and local confidence. Great architects were invited to submit plans for a bus stop. They could not be paid but it was the pleasure of the committee to offer them a free weeks holiday in the Bregenzerwald. The materials for the construction of the bus stops would be provided at minimum cost to the architects, and the builders, joiners, metal workers would also work for knockdown rates in the building of the bus stops.Hoteliers would give free hospitality. In other words, the whole community was behind the project.
The stops were all completed by the summer of 2014. With the exception of one they are all shelters; practical, in other words. They all have windows so that the bus can be seen. And they are all beautiful. One, by Smiljan Radic, has a table and chairs inside (and a bird house perched on the roof). Another overlooks a tennis court and has a little upstairs pavilion from which the tennis can be watched. Another, by Anton Garcia-Abril and Debora Mesa, makes use of the local method of stacking timber to make a gorgeous little sanctuary inside piled wood.
I sat in a local London bus stop yesterday. It had a sloping seat designed for- what? To stop drunks and the homeless from sleeping there? It was extremely uncomfortable and also mean spirited.
The lessons from the Bregenzerwald bus stops are many. Modern design is brilliant at improving the everyday. Not everyone wants to work for money. Aesthetics can be firmly based on the daily actions and routines of ordinary people. Local communities can easily relate to the great and good of the global world.Your pride in your region is infectious. Communities will look after what matters to them-these bus stops have not had a single piece of damage inflicted on them.And finally- the bus stops of the Bregenzerwald are just joyous.We could do with something similar in the UK.