Village Center of Murg

The village of Murg lies on Lake Walen and plays an important role in tourism thanks to the boat connection to Quinten and its access to the Murgseen hiking area. At the same time, it has an intact and functional village center with a school, church, local administration, train station, and shops for everyday needs.

To preserve its central function into the future, densification of the historic village core is planned. The core idea is a gradual, small-scale renewal and enhancement of the existing structures. Based on the landowners’ vision, four compact, independent development modules are proposed, each consisting of three or four newly composed building volumes. These follow village-style typologies, with buildings featuring prominent pitched roofs at strategic locations. This enhances the spatial presence of the village center. Included is also the renewal of the church as a place of community. The precise positioning of the volumes creates clearly defined public spaces. In this way, the station square becomes an integral part of the village, and the Hirschen and Hobel squares are reinstated. In the long term, the existing operations hall along the railway tracks can be replaced by a multifunctional building with a mobility hub. This would relieve tourism traffic from the Murgtal, while at the same time allowing the village center to benefit from the flow of tourists.