tenkara

What does it mean to design a fly-fishing academy at the Ammer river?  Tenkara – “from heaven” – describes the most minimal form of fly-fishing: reduced to essentials, seeking unity with nature, forgetting civilisation for a moment of timelessness. The academy adopts this spirit. Following the river, visitors leave the world behind and enter a landscape of clearings and thickets, where architecture settles like natural fragments in the flow of the terrain.

How does the architecture translate the rawness of the site into spatial form?  The movement through the site mirrors the current of the river: from the place of arrival with shop and office, to the water’s edge with workshop and changing rooms, to the communal spaces with hearth and table, and finally to the retreat of accommodation. The buildings are fragmented, embedded in the vegetation, so that nature remains a constant companion. Inside, massive walls form rooms where light enters only at chosen points, gliding across textured surfaces. Set like erratic stones in the current, the walls channel and guide the visitors’ movement, much like the river guides its flow.

What role do materials and time play in connecting the academy to its place?  Concrete is cast in fabric formwork, leaving soft folds that echo the fluidity of the river and provide space for moss, water, and weathering to take hold. Each wall becomes both structure and memory, carrying traces of place and time. All functions are integrated into thick cores, keeping the rooms fluid and open. Over the years, nature and architecture will merge, making the academy feel as if it has always
belonged to this riverside landscape.