Alp Transit Workers Settlement

Location: Biasca Pollegio
Competition: 2004 Europan Open Competition
Value: £15 million

The Alp Transit Workers Settlement at Biasca Pollegio provides comfortable and practical accommodation for workers constructing a new rail tunnel through the Alps. It is conceived to create a sense of place and identity.

The master plan of the settlement is organised in groups of chalets or ‘hamlets’ enclosing a shared open space. Communal recreational buildings are distributed within the network of open public spaces throughout the settlement.

The 2 storey chalets house 20 workers and a shared common room and kitchen is provided with an open fireplace its heart. The chalets are constructed of prefabricated bathroom modules and ‘flatpack’ wall panels. The fireplace is constructed in situ of rock quarried from the tunnel.

The conversion of the Convent into a visitors centre, the new refectory and the permeable edge of the master plan all provide an accessible interface with the neighbouring community in order to encourage the integration of the new settlement.