AUSTRIA IS KNOWN for skiing, the waltz and beer – and now also for beautifully designed bus stops. The little 1,000-person village of Krumbach is home to seven remarkable bus stops, designed by seven different architects, including Japan’s Sou Fujimoto, China’s Wang Shu, the Norwegian studio Rintala Eggertsson and Spain’s Ensamble Studio. The project was conceived as a way to attract tourists to the area, but also to showcase the design ideas of local residents and architects.
The results include a bus stop of stacked oak planks, a wooden viewing point and a wood frame like a camera obscura, a space with a tiny hole in the wall that acts as a lens.
“The bus stop is like a camera lens focused on the landscape, the symmetrical and the static. The sunlight illuminates the interior, while sometimes the wind wafts through the boards. Our eyes are guided towards the mountains in the far distance,” explains Wang Shu from Amateur.«
