Program
The project addresses the lost identity of Curon, a village submerged beneath Lake Reschensee in 1950. Centered on the iconic 14th-century bell tower, the challenge is to design a sustainable restaurant and bar that creatively integrates with this historical sentinel. By utilizing a "non-architecture" approach and a 60-meter reflective frame, the intervention establishes a profound socio-spatial connection between the alpine landscape and the sunken past, honoring cultural memory through poetic structural transparency.
Competition By
idoArch
Location
Curon, Italy
Surface
3700 m²
Project Status
Competition- Unbuilt
Date
2024
Architecture/Design
Aayush Jindal & Niharika Singh
Role
Conception, Design and Architecture
Other Partners
Niharika Singh
Project Overview
Echoes of Curon is conceived as a spatial dialogue between the 14th-century Romanesque tower and the shifting surface of Lake Resia. Rather than proposing a conventional monument, the project creates an atmospheric frame — a 60 × 60 metre square volume that gives form to the tension between the visible relic and the submerged memory of the former village.
Wrapped in polished stainless steel, the structure reflects the alpine landscape and visually dissolves into its surroundings, allowing the tower to remain the central presence. At its heart, a 20-metre void — the Echoes Courtyard — frames the historic masonry without touching it, preserving its isolation while intensifying its presence.
The visitor journey begins through a submerged open-air walkway cut into the waterline, placing the body between lake surface and hidden past. From the light-filled social spaces above, the route descends into a quieter curation level, where the foundations engage with the buried remains of Curon. Through these layered transitions, the project transforms memory into an inhabitable experience — a place where water, reflection, ruin, and absence begin to resonate.
Non-Architecture
The intervention is conceived as an architecture that withdraws rather than asserts itself. Its reflective envelope absorbs the lake, sky, and alpine landscape, allowing the tower to remain the primary presence.
The GIF reveals this idea through the changing water level. Walkway, courtyard, and mirrored frame shift between exposure and concealment, echoing Curon’s own condition — partly visible, partly submerged.
Rather than becoming a new monument, the project acts as a quiet spatial frame: a threshold between landscape, memory, and the hidden village below.
Layers of Memory
Spatial Sequence
The Floor plans translate the memorial concept into a clear spatial organisation. At the entrance level, the bridge arrives into the square frame, where the contemplative courtyard holds the tower at the centre while the restaurant, bar, and curation spaces occupy the surrounding wings.
Below, the lower level becomes quieter and more introspective, bringing visitors closer to the archaeological remains and the submerged memory of Curon.
Above, the terrace level opens the project outward again, forming a continuous viewing deck around the central void. Together, the three plans structure a movement from arrival, to memory, to landscape — binding programme and experience into one spatial sequence.
Photo Gallery
