Doug Miller Y5
The Harderkulm Transect. The site of this project, in Interlaken Switzerland, is a highly authored area located in mountainous Bernese Oberland region of central Switzerland. Interlaken bears the brunt of tourism in the area and is affected by temporal elements taking hold of the area such as strong seasonality and a changing local infrastructure. Looking deeper into the onsite conditions that inspired the three gameboards reveals complex topographic and territorial relationships. Analysis of individual transects up an existing pathway from town to mountain was performed to understand the terrain and existing or historical conditions, this path is called Harderkulm. An existing funicular installed 15 years ago circumnavigates much of this original walking route that has consequently fallen into disrepair.
‘The Harderkulm Transect’ imagines a series of buildings acting as key nodes on a new ribbon of pathway that helps re-establish the old route up the mountain side, protecting the ground from the boots of tourist hikers whilst introducing experimental architectural elements that encourage inter-action and shift the environment like the drawing game boards, transplanting sky and earth with reflective surfaces and interchanging textures from along the path with projection screens. The new transect runs from the centre of Unterseen to the top of the Harderkulm path covering around 8km. 12 buildings are located along the route; each building serving a variety of purposes in relation to its terrain condition and place along the pathway. For example, the first building is a tourist information centre in which a visitor can scout out the path way and weather before heading off.
