MPREIS WI SUPERMARKETS

In Wattens (MPreis WII), for example, the main volume is raised above ground level and connected to the street by ramps with varying gradients, thus redesigning the topography, which is now punctuated by green spaces. In the MPreis WI supermarket, a dynamic geometry, incorporated into the body of the building, has been planted with trees. These seem to have moved from the nearby forest to invade the new complex and associate it with the wide expanse. This ambiguity between nature and architecture is extended by the interplay of surfaces that filter or reflect light and the surrounding landscape. The transparency of glass, the reflectivity of polished metal, and the permeability of metal mesh are thus used in a complex pattern of distributing perceptions both inside and outside the buildings.

Local was the watchword. Until then, the operator had only trusted architects from Tyrol to design its supermarkets. It wanted its business to serve the community, to always have something to accompany it, such as a shop, a café, or a meeting place. Here, there is a police station and an underground car park. Local, and open to the sky and the mountains of the region. As you enter the stalls, natural light extends the landscape and public space. A real local shop, where you go several times a day, in small doses, because the place is first and foremost a space for socializing. The mesh covering around the program’s volumes reflects this logic of openness: from the store, the street and life are within sight. From the outside, depending on the time of day or night, the stalls appear filtered or transparent. The supermarket is no longer on the outskirts of the city, it is a neighborhood in its own right.