Vorarlberg in Austria is worth a trip for art-loving people. The Kunsthaus Bregenz is open all year round. Famous are the Bregenz Festival on the lake stage as well as the Schubertiade in Schwarzenberg with song recitals and piano concerts. Bregenz is also known for architecture.
Another example is the Werkraumschau Bregenzerwald in Andelsbuch. The Werkraumhaus, designed as a multifunctional building by Peter Zumthor, the well-known Swiss architect, becomes a stage for outstanding craft exhibits every year. And then there is Krumbach. A small town in the middle of the Voralberg countryside.
Since 2014, seven bus stops designed by internationally renowned architects and built by regional craftsmen have been located there. Seven bus shelters that bring culture, business and architecture under one roof. Architecture lovers from all over the world are invited to get on, get off or change buses here. Guests of the region are made especially easy. The Bregenzerwald Guest Card also includes the use of public transportation.
Seven at one stroke: BUS:STOP Krumbach
No, they are not the seven wonders of the world, but these seven bus stops can be reached in the most pleasant way with a bus ride. In 2013, the Kultur Krumbach association invited seven international architectural firms from Belgium, Norway, Spain, Chile, Japan, China and Russia to build new bus stop huts in a cosmopolitan design in its community. They were each assisted by a regional architectural firm and twenty local craftsmen. The architectural firms were to deliver without a fee. Nevertheless, all of them accepted in a very short time. The conditions that had to be met were almost open: the designs were to have a connection to the region, be made of resistant materials and be functional. A dialogue with the people, the landscape and the local building culture and craft tradition was to be created.
Dietmar Steiner, retired director of the Architekturzentrum Wien and curator of the project. “We wanted to make the Bregenzerwald and the craftsmanship based here accessible to international architecture.” Both seem to have succeeded. Krumbach’s mayor Anton Hirschbühl doesn’t want the Wartehüsle to be just an art project. “Above all, we want to set an attractive sign in the direction of climate-conscious local transport.” The BUS:STOP bus shelters can be found on rural bus routes number 25 and 29.
Nothing could be easier. We set off from the Romantik Hotel Das Schiff in Hittisau on line 25 and discover: Waiting can be so nice!
Waiting can be fun
