Zaha Hadid’s Messner Mountain Museum
This latest update from Messner Mountain Museum (MMM) proves how Zaha Hadid has swept over the headlines this week. Hadid is everywhere in the news with her RIBA Gold Medal, an interview aborted midway and the consequent BBC apology. The completion of Messner Museum at Mount Kronplatz is being celebrated with the release of some breathtaking shots photographed by the British photographer duo Hufton + Crow.
With stunning views clicked from within the MMM terraces and its surroundings, these photographs capture the thrill and awe experienced by the museum visitors. At a location sitting amidst a picturesque expanse of blue skies whirling over the majestic peaks of Zillertal, Ortler and Dolomites, this museum happens to sit on top of a popular ski site. Founded by Reinhold Messner, this is the sixth and the last one to be built from the Alpine series of mountaineering museums, representing the essence of mountaineering.
Reinhold Messner, the first mountaineer to have climbed the tallest 14 peaks across the globe, especially Mt. Everest without oxygen aids, outlines his vision for this place saying “Kronplatz offers views beyond the borders of South Tyrol to all points of the compass: from the Lienz Dolomites in the east to the Ortler in the west, from the Marmolada Glacier in the south to the Zillertal Alps in the north.”
Nick Hufton and Allan Crow, renowned for their brilliant storytelling stills, express Messner’s vision veritably. A portfolio of photographs frame the museum as a subject, set in front of panoramic stretches speckled with distant landscape. Images offer uninterrupted views of the Alpine azure meeting snow-clad hilltops, all covered in a veil of clouds, as seen from the cantilevered terraces.
These terraces extended from seemingly rock-like monolithic forms, are designed specifically to expose visitors to the astounding views of three different mountains. Moreover the views clicked from within the cavern-like galleries of this museum, feature the dark grey concrete luster running across the internal surfaces.
Hufton and Crow have been working with Zaha Hadid’s firm and as part of their ongoing collaboration, they capture the story of form and spaces through 30 wide angled images, clicked from dawn to dusk, with/without visitors and zooming into construction details. These enthralling visuals show how Zaha Hadid’s addition to the mountains stands in stark contrast, unblending with the beautiful backdrop.
By: Khushboo Vyassite
