Walter Niedermayr

While Walter Niedermayr dealt with the mountainous environment around Lech am Arlberg in his last book, this publication allows us to witness some of the work he made over a period of seven years in the communes of the Fiemme Valley, in Trentino, South Tyrol. Visiting the eleven towns that have banded together to administer common property for nearly one thousand years, Niedermayr was mainly interested in the architecture. Very special kinds of homes have managed to not only survive there, but to evolve to the conditions of present day; their hybrid transition zones connecting private, semi-public, and public areas seem more relevant than ever. Over the centuries this large community has developed a strong communal sense of how to deal carefully with resources and joint use. Common characteristics, especially in the way that space is structured in the villages, are remarkable. Some are seen in diptychs, but most take form as a sequence based on building type. In this photographic project, Walter Niedermayr traces these forms of living according to their suitability to everyday life, and ultimately the future potential of the architectural and social village structures in the Fiemme Valley.