The memory of Fläsch

Fläsch, which I visited one year ago during my internship in Zürich, became a relevant case study for my project. It is a great example of great attention being given to rural development.

Fläsch is a small village in a Swiss canton Graubünden, which won a Wakkerpreis in 2010 – a prize given by the Swiss Heritage Society to municipalities for an exemplary preservation of their qualities and character.  Fläsch won the prize for its innovative development planning, which aims to strengthen the identity of Fläsch as a wine –growing village. Thanks to the land replacements, wine and fruit gardens in the village core could have been preserved, without constraining any future development, which has been planned on the outskirt. The new development plan is a result of a research at the university in Chur, combined with deep discussions with authorities and residents. 

The municipality highly encourages good contemporary architecture. The planning sets certain rules of how new buildings and streets should look like. For example, planting conifers is not allowed, only natural materials can be used, new perimeter walls should be similar to the old ones, the houses can be painted only in natural colours, the roof under the solar panels need to be painted dark and many more… These rules aim to create a uniform picture of a village and present it as one entity.