TERRI-TOUR:
Rethinking tourism for a sustainable, regional approach

Researching visitor dispersal

'Highlighting the Hinterlands' is a research on the inland towns and farmland north of Great Ocean Road, a popular touristic destination in Victoria. It looks at the impact of renovations and small constructions on visitors and local communities. This research classifies the common buildings in typologies and gives ways to transform them to attract visitors, propose economic opportunities for local inhabitants and dispersal the visitors in the land.

Attracting visitors on regional land

The annual hut festival in Annecy invites visitors to go past the popular lake shore into the region's nature through 13 pavilions.

In the Fort of Tamier, our hut is difficult to enter, as the fort itself, but inside, it offers an intimate space.The wooden prefabricated block’s exterior is treated in burned wood to accentuate the contrast. The prefabrication of the elements simplified the construction and transport to the site, difficult to access.Small openings are taking place between some blocks to observe the surrounding nature, and a more generous one is created by the interruption of the apparatus. This window presents an overview of the valley.

People hiking in the mountain are invited to cut themselves from the world to meditate on the view over the valley.

Altering existing mass tourism

Verzasca valley, in Ticino, has been experiencing drastic depopulation for several years and counts today only 828 permanent inhabitants. In contrast, many tourists come to visit the valley for day trips or to rent houses. Tourists and locals co-exist in the valley but don’t interact.

The project intends to orient tourism towards the local community and their territory to create an exchange that supports them while giving tourists a chance to become active visitors.

The implementation of this sustainable tourism starts with the renovation and extension of Cortascio, a small abandoned hamlet. At the end of its transformation, the village becomes a place to learn about the valley, participate in activities, and meet. The skills acquired by volunteers in Cortascio then spread to the valley.

Amplifying local’s voice

In the Wörthersee in Austria, the lake shore is 83% occupied by private residences. The project, located on a campus for the Vienna Boys Choirs, uses the water as a sound facilitator to reclaim public access to the lake. The horn can face the land distributing the sound to an audience on the Wiener Sangerknaben semi-public plot, or rotate and face the lake spreading the sound to ‘accidental’ listeners around the lake.

The sound canon becomes an amplifier of the local music culture, providing an interaction point between the choir campus, local musicians, and the public. Performed as a ritual, the sound canon contributes to the soundscape of Wörthersee and allows musical experimentation.