Abstract

This paper is part of a PhD research positioned within the field of contemporary architecture and landscape as components of the image of the mountain city. The research issues are framed in a qualitative perspective and inquiry fields are analyzed using a methodology based on perception by the senses. The focus is on Alpine urban reality (since the Alps are recognized as the paradigm of European mountain in every sense), especially the architecture of new highly visible interventions, while considering its surrounding landscape. In these cases, architecture can assume an important role both for the reconstruction of a genius loci between city and mountain, and for the competitiveness of the urban milieu in association with its territory. Three spaces in three Alpine cities have been studied and compared from this perspective: the Curial ensemble in Chambéry, the new Thermal Baths of Meran and the renewal of Castelgrande in Bellinzona. Focusing on landscape, the critical observation of those three case studies leads to a methodology for the conception of architectural space, expressing the art of a place between city and mountain. Moreover, the importance of architecture as an icon in the current context of urban competitiveness is also taken into account.