Requalification of the mining site of Ollomont-Valpelline

In Valle d'Aosta, where a significant mining activity in the mountains animated the territory defining its culture, a educational museum and a experimental archaeometallurgy laboratory complete the redevelopment of the Ollomont-Valpelline mining site. Through the Italian-French project MiMonVe (Mines around Mont Vélan), the material and immaterial traces of this history are enhanced and returned to the public

Museum, laboratory, and thematic path to remember

Architect Marco Di Perna and engineer Gianluca Odetto from the Sertec Engineering Consulting studio have overseen the feasibility project, the executive project, and the works management of the territorial redevelopment project that was initially conceived by the Institute of Mountain Architecture (IAM of the Department of Architecture and Design of the Polytechnic University of Turin; professors and architects Roberto Dini, Antonio De Rossi, Cristian Dallere). The intervention included the creation of the museum with an info-point, the laboratory, along with the thematic path "Sentier du cuivre" that guides through historical focuses on the territory and the reopening to visitors of some old mining galleries

An industrial and geometric language among the mountains

The language of the intervention refers to the pre-existing industrial elements, consisting of sheds, shacks, equipment such as cranes and pulleys, and then reorganizes them with strong geometric signs that stitch together the past with the landscape. The new constructions have been designed dryly to be reversible and non-invasive. The museum is a new volume clad in metal sheeting, which leans against the old communal lodge of the Les Rey hamlet. Internally, illuminated by the glass window facing the mountains, the multi-functional design of the structure makes it usable for various needs, and the automatic shading of sunshades characterizes its aesthetics

The light emphasizes the new landmark

Thanks to the lighting design project, light cuts that refer to the geometries of minerals extracted emphasize the architectural intervention that becomes the new landmark of Ollomont. In addition to the architectural projects for the museum and the laboratory, the redevelopment of the mining site of Ollomont-Valpelline involves the reopening to the public of the Saint-Jean mine, enhanced by a metal portal at the entrance, and that of Balme which instead offers a spectacular view of the extraction shaft