Isn’t the existent always the outcome of any creative confrontation? Is such a creative discussion really out of a contextual consideration? Isn’t every context – even a purely spiritual one – part of the heritage? In his contribution, Walter Angonese reflects on the potential of the pre-existent on the architectural project. He believes in “thinking ahead” and consequently in “building on”, and that is why the question of the relevance of existing structures to architectural design has been clarified. However, he also believes that the quality of the existent can only be improved thanks to an increased habit of awareness and not only following and blaming the prescribed laws for quality assurance. This awareness raising gives responsibility to the individual within a society, but also makes him responsible for his own actions. Building in an alpine context – like any building, by the way – is therefore a question of responsibility, towards oneself and towards one’s society. If the architectural idea is built by leading it from an intuition about a cultural reflection to what one can call a real “architectural idea” (and not merely any intuition), then that is an important first step for a high-quality “continuing construction” of the existing. Only the heritage and the existent can become a meaningful starting point of the project.
