In the Winter Semester 2025/26, sixteen students explored the European larch (Larix decidua) as the starting point for a research-based design project rooted in the ecological, material, and cultural realities of our Alpine region. As a defining tree of the subalpine zone, the larch is remarkably well adapted to harsh mountain conditions and demonstrates significant resilience in the face of climate change.

Our investigation focused on the tree’s unique qualities not only as a building material and a carrier of cultural identity, but also as a living organism embedded within complex ecological and (agri-)cultural systems. To develop a situated understanding, students conducted fieldwork in larch forests in Val Badia and visited the ancient larches (Ur-Lärchen) of Val d’Ultimo. These excursions enabled close engagement with forest ecologies, silvicultural practices, timber processing, and the historical use of larch wood in regional architecture and material culture.

A visit to the 2025 Venice Architecture Biennale - curated by Carlo Ratti under the theme Intelligens. Natural. Artificial. Collective. - positioned the project within contemporary design debates on more-than-human intelligence, material agency, and collective forms of production.

Through participant observation, design research, and material experimentation, students developed proposals that actively address the larch as both an ecological actor and a natural resource. The resulting works, on view in this showcase exhibition, range from architectural elements to public seating, outdoor cooking furniture, lighting, apparel, and games. Beyond timber, many projects engage with other elements of the larch ecosystem, including resin, bark, needles, seeds, cones, roots, associated fungi, and the microhabitats sustained by the tree.

Overall, this semester project encouraged second- and third-year students to approach product design as a critical, context-sensitive practice - one that responds to ecological realities, works with living materials, and reflects on the evolving relationship between nature, culture, and design.

Klaus Hackl, January 2026