Bale Wine Experience – Tin Jelavić

WINTER 2015
DESIGN STUDIO RE-THINKING TOURISM – TOWN AS DISPERSED HOTEL
MENTORS TINA GREGORIČ, JOHANNES PAAR
COLLABORATORS BESARTA KRASNIQI, CLARISSA MENEGHETTI BRENDLER
HONORS ENTWERFEN AUSSTELLUNG 2017

The main goal of the project is to gather individuals who possess different abilities, but share a common interest: learning about and experiencing wine.

Through that exchange one would get more out of tourism by experiencing the country in a very special way. This participatory project treasures knowledge and cultural transfer as a post-capitalist value.

Furthermore, we aim to better connect the Bale municipality, specifically the wine region with the town itself. The town is of pivotal importance in this design as it is the place where the majority of architectural interventions will be experienced.

Using the concept of the albergo diffuso we want to liven up the town so it can serve as an effective starting hub when exploring and this region.

**Don‘t ruin the ruin**, preserve it. Its materiality should remain, both inside and out. The intervention will draw from the old and preserve it. The new structure will be integrated in the context of the old without destroying its true character.

The project is not about the contrast of dark and light. It is about exploring what happens to our perception when we find ourselves in a dimly lit room. As our vision diminishes, our other senses become enhanced. **Follow your nose.**

As part of the workshop during the harvest season, temporary sleeping arrangements are offered - a sort of **explorative accommodation**. The winemakers can either use tents set up in the vineyards, or sleep in the various stanzias.

The wood of a barrel absorbs the wine during the aging process and attains its scent. The idea is to **upcycle the barrels** - break them apart and use the planks in various ways, be it interior design, furniture or an element of the façade.

Independent stanzias unite - produce a regional wine and take part in the workshops offered by the town itself. All stanzias have equal rights and can both use and provide services. In a peer-to-peer network, each participant can be a consumer and a supplier at the same time.

The **roads** would connect Bale with the surrounding stanzias and could be traveled by bikes or simply on foot, thus enabling the guests to see and take part in the workshops and events associated with the wine-making process.

Unlike a regular hotel where all of the rooms are situated inside a single building or building complex, the rooms of an **Albergo Diffuso** are distributed in existing converted buildings in the historic centre of the town. It has a central reception area with a cafe and it is run as any regular hotel. The Albergo Diffuso provides normal hotel services. In a regular hotel the guests aren’t a part of the community. The Albergo Diffuso on the other hand offers an immersive experience and a genuine connection to the local life.

The term tourist is increasingly used pejoratively, to imply a shallow interest in the cultures or environments. No one wants to be a tourist any more, but prefers to be a traveler, passenger, guest… Instead of superficial one-way observation, one participates, exchanges or co-creates in a two-way relationship and evolves to nanotourist.

Nanotourism is beyond tourism, it is an attitude to improve specific everyday environments and to open up new local economies. It hinges on using local resources and on the interaction between the provider and user by co-creation, cooperation or exchange of knowledge.