On Via Museo, in the dense historic fabric of Bolzano, a new urban building rises on the elongated lot once home to the Athesia publishing group’s printing press. NOA studio reinterprets the city house typology with a refined and subtle façade composition, crafting a purist volume that elegantly bridges history and contemporary design.
The urban redevelopment project for the lot at the corner of Via Museo and Via Cassa di Risparmio began in 2016, following a municipal plan aimed at increasing the share of residential space in the historic centre of Bolzano. In 2019, the architectural and interior design firm NOA was entrusted by the Athesia group to oversee the design direction of the residential building at Via Museo 42, which was part of the implementation plan. By that time, the building's volume had already been defined and approved under the guidance of the studio Planpunkt.
The new volume fully reflects the scale of Bolzano's historic city centre: it is an urban building with a narrow frontage on Via Museo, dating back to the late 19th century, finely crafted with pointed-arched windows and a side turret. This façade has been completely restored for architectural preservation reasons, revealing a series of mosaics that had previously been hidden by plaster. The new volume extends 75 meters towards the inner courtyard, with the two main façades facing east and west. The short northern side of the building overlooks the Church of the Sacred Heart. The structure is made of concrete block, with varying heights dictated by the required distances from adjacent buildings. There are 7 above-ground floors, with a maximum height of 23 meters. Additionally, there are four underground levels dedicated to a garage, the construction of which was completed in the first phase of the project in 2021. Except for the ground floor and the first underground level, which are for commercial use, the entire building is residential.
NOA approaches the project by simultaneously working on façade studies and testing layout configurations for the apartments. Operating within the context of a historic city centre, the architects have engaged with the typology of urban houses and have carefully studied the characteristic elements of the nearby historical buildings: those on Via Museo, paved in 1910, and those on Via Cassa di Risparmio, constructed during the 19th century.
“Urban houses from the 19th century in Bolzano clearly distinguish between the base, the main body of the façade, and the roof. It’s an architectural language with deep roots in the history of early Renaissance buildings, which endures into the contemporary era, and we have implemented it in this project as well,” explains Andreas Profanter, architect and partner at NOA.
The different treatment of the façade components is subtle and elegant in this case, achieved through a special type of plaster with varying grain sizes. Moreover, to soften the length of the main front, NOA, in consultation with the heritage conservation authorities, has proposed a slight colour change where the volume protrudes.
“The base, 4.5 meters high, is finished in a three-dimensional plaster in earthy tones. A thin line, reminiscent of the stringcourse, separates it from the upper plaster, which has a finer grain and a darker stippling that enriches the façade with contrast. This distinction between the ground floor and the upper levels is inspired by historical examples found on the nearby Via Cassa di Risparmio,” explains architect Profanter.
The penthouse level, which houses an apartment, features a third colour, still within the brown palette but darker, and, thanks to its recessed position, takes a secondary role compared to the underlying façade. The façade is rhythmically punctuated by the openings of windows and loggias, in a purist composition where nothing is left to chance.
“We enhanced the façade by incorporating funnel-shaped window reveals within the thickness of the perimeter wall, optimizing the flow of natural light and expanding the outward view. This approach, with its significant compositional impact, draws inspiration from the characteristic chamfered edges found in historic buildings across the Alpine region’s city centres,” explains architect Francesco Padovan
The full-height window, flush with the interior and with a wooden frame, is the architectural element at the core of the façade design. In the loggias and balconies, the railing is made of glass, seamlessly integrating into the compositional grid. The new structure accommodates a total of 48 apartments, including one- and two-bedroom units, for which NOA has designed the floor plans as well as selected the interior finishes: flooring, sanitary fixtures, and kitchen modules. The signage system across the various floors, also designed by the studio, enriches the design with colourful graphic elements. Among the common areas is a large green terrace on the first floor.
“The apartments facing Via Museo are the most spacious. Here, the historic façade meets the new structure, creating highly evocative spaces, such as the kitchen and living area with the bow window, housed in the historic turret,” adds architect Padovan.
The circulation is organized around two stairwells, connected by a corridor that extends longitudinally through the building. Due to the presence of a shop on the ground floor, the stairwell serving the entrance from Via Museo starts at a side entrance to the new building and then enters the structure on the first floor. It is an impressive entrance, overlooking the historic porticos, with a new staircase featuring sandstone steps set in a metal frame, revealing the original historic steps as a reminder of the initial connection, and leading to a bright atrium with stucco decorations on the first floor. The second stairwell is accessed from the inner courtyard, which also houses the ramp leading to the garage. Both the inner courtyard and the roofs feature green spaces with various solutions: planters, extensive and intensive greenery, and lawn areas.
