Liquid Frontiers

Peneder is a successful Upper Austrian fire protection and steel construction company which is keen to intensify its relationship with architects and engineers. Working in close cooperation with the industry body IG Architektur, Liquid Frontiers developed a concept which would allow important issues for the future to be addressed in the unusual form of a journey taking in locations at which the issue could be most dramatically experienced.
The focus selected for the journey was “protection” - a theme which is not only as important for architects as it is for fire protection experts but which is also seen as relevant for virtually all other areas of society. To this end, not only architects and representatives of the company but also experts from a range of other disciplines were invited to participate in this “research journey”.
A location with extreme relevance for the theme of the event was chosen as both support base and final destination. “La Claustra” is a Swiss Army bunker which has been converted into a modern hotel and is located high in the Alps at an altitude of 2,000 metres, just below the St. Gotthard Pass. The extent to which architecture and atmosphere can create a sense of protection was made clear by the excursions to the recently refurbished “Alte Hospiz” and the former artists’ colony on Monte Verità above Ascona.