Ideas for a better quality of stay at Bolzano Station.

Much is said about train stations. They are operating facilities and built ideology, a stop for public transport and cargo terminal, a showpiece of their city and a gateway to the world, an infrastructure hub and mobility-system component, a cathedral of the industrial age and shopping mall, a place of longing and Non-Place, a welcome home and a kiss goodbye.

Based on our extensive field research and starting from a growing awareness of the ecological benefits of rail travel as well as the changing socio-cultural conditions – triggered by COVID-19 – the semester project focused entirely on the public user interface of Bolzano Station.

Nine students succeeded in developing really useful products, from public door handles to station furnishings, from service proposals to spatial interventions, all designed to improve the contact zones between travellers, railway infrastructure and architecture, and the surrounding urban fabric.

Klaus Hackl, January 2021

Project partners

Plattform Kulturerbe und Kulturproduktion, Dr. Waltraud Kofler-Engl.

Kuratorium für Technische Kulturgüter, Dr. Wittfrida Mitterer.