Jasper Kap

Abandoned quarries across Europe form an expanding category of residual landscapes in which ecological disruption and social detachment converge. The Steinbruch Lahntal in Wörgl stands as a clear example: a carved terrain that supplied the town with building material for decades, yet today operates as a visible but largely misunderstood wound within the valley. This project investigates how architecture might contribute to the ecological and aesthetic recalibration of such extractive sites, enabling them to regain relevance within their wider context.

Upon arrival at the barn, the first moment of encounter between visitor and landscape unfolds. The structure is partially embedded within the mountainside, as though it has been reinserted into the existing topography. Its form follows the contour lines of the quarry, directly referencing the way the terrain itself was once cut from the landscape.

In section, this relationship becomes legible: the building reads as a deliberate incision against the rock face. The concrete base anchors itself within the mass of the ground, while the timber volume above aligns with the surrounding hillside. The barn thus operates as a first point of contact, accessible, tactile, and intrinsically bound to the terrain.

Afternoon light enters diagonally through openings on the south western façade, casting a warm incision across the interior and rhythmically articulating the linear arrangement of the cattle. Openings to the north ensure continuous ventilation: cool, constant, and functional. The section reveals how light paths and airflows traverse the space, binding the internal atmosphere closely to the building’s orientation.

The cheese cellar is positioned midway along the quarry wall, precisely at the point where the route transitions from the openness of the barn to the more enclosed condition of the site. The visualisation reveals how the space is embedded within the mountain, a chamber held by the rock, offering the visitor a distinct sense of enclosure.

In section, the cylindrical volume emerges as a vertical space of ten metres in height, accessed via a narrow corridor. This passage marks the beginning of a spatial transition that runs parallel to the transformation of both stone and cheese.
At its base, the wall remains coarse and rugged, echoing the origin of the material itself. As one ascends, the texture gradually refines, becoming increasingly smooth and uniform, culminating in a fully cast concrete surface at the exit. This gradation mirrors the process of maturation: from young, humid cheeses at the lower levels to harder, more mature varieties above.

Airflow follows the same vertical trajectory as the visitor, moving from bottom to top, subtly shifting the microclimate at each level to support the ageing process, with more ventilated cheeses below and more stable, less ventilated conditions higher within the cellar walls.

The restaurant is situated at an elevation of 170 metres relative to the quarry entrance, occupying the most open point within the site. Its columns adopt the same formal language as those of the barn, yet here the inclined beams extend outward rather than towards the façade. The columns stand detached from the envelope, intensifying the sense of openness. From this vantage point, the quarry unfolds in its entirety: the barn and the exit of the cheese cellar remain visible, while beyond, the town constructed from the very stone extracted here comes into view. In this way, the relationship between quarry and city becomes both legible and experiential.

The term Narbenraum combines the German words Narbe (scar) and Raum (space). It refers to a landscape condition that emerges when a site is shaped by industry and subsequently relinquished to nature. In this sense, a quarry may be understood as an open wound: a cut landscape where intervention remains visible, yet no new meaning or programme has been established.

Narbenraum offers an alternative reading. Rather than treating the quarry as damage to be erased, it frames it as a spatial layer capable of further development once reactivated through use. By introducing programme, the open wound is not concealed but transformed into a scar, something that reveals its past while becoming part of a newly formed condition.