Pichler

projects

Our passion and drive have been instrumental to the success of numerous projects both domestically and all around the world.
All of those projects have different characteristics, different background stories and different specific requirements.
But each and every one of them embodies our whole experience.
They are all unique.
From industrial hangars to high-bay warehouses, from bold suspension bridges to glass skyscrapers in the world’s largest cities, we have realised more than 2000 projects over the years.
The following selection showcases our various areas of competence.

Alperia Tower

Valentina Bonato Architetto, Museum 39 Studio Architettura & Artist Julia Bornefeld

Bolzano 2017

Heat storage tower

Construction for a healthy environment

The forty-metre-tall heat reservoir of the Alperia district heating plant in Bolzano blends innovative technology with architecture and art. Its envelope was designed by the local architects Valentina Bonato, Dario Cago and Helmut Niedermayr in collaboration with the artist Julia Bornefeld. Their draft won the idea contest launched by the Bolzano Chamber of Architects. Irregularly arranged holes on the cylinder create the impression of water bolts, reflecting the generation of bubbles in the heating process. Creative light and colour effects complete this illusion of motion: water consists of countless tiny molecules, constantly kept in motion by physics. The exterior shell of the building will feature its own load-bearing structure and a pattern based on the Kepler conjecture, while an opening in the upper area allows viewers to perceive the ‘tower’ especially three-dimensionally. The purpose of this concept is to reduce the visual rigidity of the cylindrical storage unit both horizontally and vertically. This is also achieved by the space created between the exterior shell and the reservoir itself, which makes the volume of the towering structure more plastic.

PICHLER projects built both the load-bearing structure behind the exterior shell and the sheet metal cladding on the outside.

The construction of the heat reservoir boosted the architectural attractiveness of the district heating plant considerably, making it a new symbol of Bolzano.

Owner

ECOTHERM SRL

Steel structures

Special constructions

Façades

Ventilated facades

Sector

Energy

Location

Trentino-Südtirol
Bolzano

© OskarDaRiz