The Agordo Congress Center by Studio Botter and Studio Bressan transforms a peripheral site into a civic landmark, combining timber construction, pitched roofs, and expansive glazing to reinterpret Alpine building traditions.

Strategic position and civic role

Located just outside Agordo’s urban core, the Congress and Exhibition Center occupies a strategic site with strong connections to schools, sports facilities, and public infrastructure. Despite its peripheral position, the building plays a central civic role, hosting concerts, performances, conferences, exhibitions, and community gatherings that support local social life.

Form inspired by Alpine building culture

The architectural language draws from the valleys around Agordo, reinterpreting the traditional tabià through a contemporary lens. A sequence of repeated pitched roofs generates a clear and recognizable silhouette across the landscape, while establishing a rhythmic order that simultaneously shapes the exterior expression and organizes the interior spaces.

Timber structure and construction logic

The load-bearing system is conceived in glued laminated timber, including pillars, roof beams, trusses, and bracing elements, resting on concrete plinths connected by a continuous foundation raft. A series of parallel isostatic frames defines the static scheme, braced diagonally along the long sides and anchored to the eastern concrete containment wall through steel struts and tie rods. Prefabricated timber components and large-span trusses enable a lightweight structure, allowing for precise and efficient construction while ensuring seismic performance.

Facades, interiors, and technical integration

Continuous glass curtain walls on the north and west fronts open the main hall toward the surrounding mountains, while the south and east elevations are more closed, clad externally in sheet metal and finished internally with slatted wood wool panels. Deep cantilevered roofs protect the glazed facades and regulate solar gain throughout the year. The polished concrete foundation raft is left exposed as the finished floor, treated with industrial quartz for durability and slip resistance, while all mechanical systems are concealed within the upper service level to preserve the clarity of the facades and roof profile.

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