Backdirwasmedienfrische 2026 • Oven • Boden, Austria • 06/26
team: Valentin Fick, David Zauels, Franka Ruhnau As part of Medienfrische, the project with the working title backdirwas was developed. The aim was to create a communal oven for the village of Boden, a place for gathering that would be available both to the local residents and to the Artists in Residence during their stay. The oven stands on a solid concrete plinth cast in formwork made from round timber logs. This design references the traditional log construction of the nearby farmhouses, translating its character into a contemporary architectural language. The combustion chamber of the communal oven is designed as a domed structure. Its firebrick lining stores the generated heat and reflects it back into the interior of the oven. The structure is enclosed by a tall stainless-steel body. At the front, it continues the width of the plinth, while on the sides the form tapers upwards. The oven is capped by a horizontal drip edge. The wooden shingle, a building element widely used in alpine regions, is reinterpreted through large-format stainless-steel panels. Connected by an interlocking system, the individual elements form a precisely assembled outer shell.