Get High

Lounging lakeside at Wörthersee is a must-experience-to-believe-it occasion, but sometimes you just want to get high.  Do it! A little drive to Gosdorf’s recently opened Murturm observation tower will get you there.  On the banks of the Mur River, the tower offers sweeping views over the enchanting landscape of the European Nature Reserve.

The reserve is striking, but the tower, designed by architects Klaus K. Loenhart and Christoph Mayr, will leave you breathless. Created out of steel and aluminum, the tower describes the most essential element of nature in the form of a double helix. Soaring 27 meters above the forest the platform allows both scientific monitoring and observation over the “renaturation” process on both sides of the river below.

Bordering Slovenia, the area was formerly a part of a closed security zone, only recently opened to the public and is included in the European Green Belt. The geometry of the tower allows for a double staircase, on which you not only encounter varying levels of nature, but also other visitors.  Drawing inspiration from the surrounding trees, the lower part represents a trunk, while the upper levels are reminiscent of branches. If you’re height shy, this may not be an experience you want to undertake.  Although it’s completely stable, the tower moves with the will of nature, and will sway slightly in windy weather.

For more information visit the loenhart & mayr website.

Images by Lilli Hollein

For viewpoints high and low, but always plentiful, the only place to stay in the area is at the all-suite Aenea hotel in Worthersee. The surrounding forests and crisp Alpine air, will have you refreshed in no time.

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Categories: Worthersee, Architecture, Design

Contributing writer: Alicia Reuter