This is the second Hadid facility in Innsbruck: in 2002, the Bergisel ski jump was erected there. Now we are talking about four stations and a bridge over the Inn River, connected by a funicular route: with this vehicle, tourists and city residents can now get from the center of Innsbruck to the mountain village of Hungerburg, having risen to an altitude of about 900 m above sea level in 25 minutes. From there to more serious heights, to the beginning of the world-famous ski slopes, there is an ordinary cable car.
When designing the stations, Zaha Hadid studied the "behavior" of ice in nature: how glacial moraines are located and displaced, what a frozen river looks like on a mountain slope … As a result, four stations emerged, consisting of functional concrete foundations and frosted glass ceilings that imitate frozen motion with their shapes water turned into ice. The grid of black stripes lining them emphasizes the fluidity of organic forms: a technique that unites all stations into a single ensemble.
The funicular starts in the center of Innsbruck, from the underground Congress station, and goes through the tunnel to the next stop, at the Hotel Loewenhaus. The train then crosses the bridge over the River Inn; this bridge is supported by two inclined concrete pillars by means of a system of steel cables. After that, an almost steep ascent to the Alpenzo station begins, but the passengers hardly feel this: the train carriages can take a horizontal position, aligning themselves to an angle of 55 degrees relative to the rails. At the next station there is the highest mountainous in the world "Alpine Zoo", where species of animals typical for the local ecosystem are collected. On the way to the last Hungerburg station, the train passes through a veil of clouds, finding itself at another Hadid "ice sculpture", located among the traditional chalets.
The Hungerburgbahn funicular was rebuilt instead of its completely ordinary predecessor in just 2 years, with relatively modest means - for the project of Zaha Hadid, therefore, the talent of an architect was especially vivid in this complex of transport structures: in creating very unusual, attractive and at the same time completely functional forms.
