Architecture and sustainability
at high altitude
Arianna Callocchia
This article appeared in Elevatori Magazine, issue no. 4/2026. Click here to subscribe!
In the Central Swiss Alps, near the city of Lucerne, in the renowned tourist destination of Engelberg, the Titlis Tower opened to the public in June 2026: a panoramic observation deck, at an altitude of over 3,000 metres, created by converting a former transmission tower dating from the 1980s. The opening of the Titlis Tower marks the first stage of a wider and more complex project to revitalise the existing infrastructure on Mount Titlis, which also includes the completion, in 2029, of the Titlis Peak Station.
With the Titlis Project, designed by the Swiss architectural firm Herzog & de Meuron, Bergbahnen Engelberg-Trübsee- Titlis AG (Titlis Cableways) aims to radically modernise its infrastructure to meet current needs and make Titlis an Alpine tourist destination accessible all year round.
Pictured here are some of the partners at Herzog & de Meuron and members of the Titlis Tower project team. From left: Volker Jacob, Andreas Fries, Pierre de Meuron, Stephan Weber. © TITLIS Bergbahnen
“With this project, we are actively shaping the future of our company, the Engelberg destination and Central Switzerland,” says Hans Wicki, Chairman of the Titlis Cableways Board of Directors. “The aim is to position Titlis as a leading, year-round alpine destination that offers an internationally competitive experience deeply rooted in localheritage.
HISTORY OF THE TITLIS PROJECT
In 1967, the opening of the first cable car to the Klein Titlis, just over 200 metres below the jagged summit, marked the start of a continuous expansion of the existing infrastructure. Today, the Titlis welcomes around 1.1 million visitors each year, most of whom are international tourists keen to experience the mountain and its landscape. The Titlis offers a wide variety of tourist attractions, including restaurants, shops, the Glacier Cave, the Cliff Walk (the world’s highest suspension bridge), the Ice Flyer panoramic chairlift and the Titlis Rotair, the world’s first rotating cable car.
After some forty years of operation, Titlis Bergbahnen’ acquisition of the 1980s transmission tower – previously owned by the Swiss Army – marked the starting point for rethinking Titlis’s tourist infrastructure and designing it to meet today’s requirements in terms of capacity, visitor orientation and flow.
In 2017, Bergbahnen Engelberg-Trübsee-Titlis AG (Titlis Cableways) commissioned the Titlis Project to the firm Herzog & de Meuron, founded in Basel in 1978 by the Swiss architects Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron (winners of the Pritzker Prize in 2001).
This is a comprehensive infrastructure regeneration project for the summit of the Titlis, comprising two major initiatives: the refurbishment of the Titlis Peak Station at the top of the mountain and the transformation of the Titlis Tower into an integral part of the tourist experience for visitors.
On this article, are some images from the Titlis project. © Herzog & de Meuron
TITLIS TOWER
The Titlis Tower project, designed by Herzog & de Meuron and completed in June 2026, transforms the transmission tower built in the 1980s on Mount Titlis into a panoramic observation deck. Given its height of 56 metres and its exposed location at over 3,000 metres above sea level, the tower is anchored deep into the limestone mountain by a concrete structure and features an almost filigree-like steel framework. As part of the tower’s restoration and redevelopment project, the antenna structures that were no longer required were removed, and the remaining ones were reinforced at roof level. The concrete base was extended to create an entrance level housing visitor reception area, technical facilities and a garage for vehicles used to prepare the ski slopes.
The steel structure has been integrated with two suspended horizontal volumes, a viewing platform and four vertical circulation towers. The underground tunnel, built in the 1980s, provides a direct, weather-protected link between the tower and the top station, access to the glacial cave and a technical infrastructure connection within the rock. At the end of the tunnel, the route opens out into a cavern-like hall where footage of the surrounding Alpine landscape is projected onto two large LED screens. From the base, visitors ascend via the four vertical circulation towers to the viewing platform. Two of the four steel structures, situated at each corner of the tower, serve as emergency staircases, whilst the other two house the lifts.
Two entirely glazed horizontal volumes extend out in cantilevered sections and overlap one another, symbolically forming a Swiss cross, and offering visitors a breathtaking panoramic view of the glacial landscape to the south and the Swiss Plateau to the north. The lower section houses a Rolex boutique, a number of facilities and shops, whilst the upper section is home to the elegant gourmet restaurant Joseph’s, which, entirely clad in wood, offers a warm and welcoming atmosphere.
The Horizon Deck, a viewing platform open to the public, is the main attraction for visitors. As Andreas Fries, Senior Partner at Herzog & de Meuron, explains: “Building at over 3,000 meters above sea level, under extreme conditions of strong winds and icy temperatures, requires an exceptionally robust structure and places extraordinary demands on construction logistics.”
“In collaboration with numerous specialists, we were able to accompany Titlis Bergbahnen through all phases of the project. Through this process, the existing former antenna tower was transformed into an iconic building with a presence that resonates across the entire region”, Fries concludes.
TITLIS PEAK STATION
The Titlis Peak Station, due for completion in 2029, forms an integral part of the Titlis Cableways infrastructure redevelopment project.
The design by Herzog & de Meuron envisages retaining certain elements of the existing structure and creating a new, integrated architectural complex with new services
and facilities to meet today’s requirements in terms of capacity, visitor orientation and flow.
© Herzog & de Meuron
TITLIS CONNECT
The Titlis project, designed by the Swiss architectural firm Herzog & de Meuron, also includes Titlis Connect: a new cable car by the Doppelmayr/Garaventa Group that complements the existing Titlis Rotair and connects the Trübsee Lake intermediate station with the top station. The Titlis Connect runs parallel to the existing line, ensuring long-term accessibility and the transport of materials for the construction work on Mount Titlis until the completion of the works.
TITLIS ROTAIR
From the Trübsee Lake midway station, the historic Titlis Rotair takes you to the summit of the Titlis at over 3,000 metres above sea level. This is the world’s first rotating gondola lift, installed on Mount Titlis in 1992 by the Doppelmayr/Garaventa Group and upgraded in 2014 with a new gondola design in which the entire structure rotates 360 degrees on its own axis during the journey.
TITLIS EXPRESS
From the valley station in Engelberg, you reach the Trübsee Lake intermediate station at over 2,000 metres above sea level via the historic cableway Titlis Xpress: a cable car system previously installed with Garaventa cabins from the Doppelmayr Group.
SCHINDLER LIFTS AND ESCALATORS
The Swiss group Schindler has been commissioned to install 8 lifts and 7 escalators in the Titlis Tower and the new Titlis Peak Station.
The systems are designed to operate in extreme conditions at an altitude of over 3,000 metres, withstanding the climate and high visitor numbers. The eight lifts have been designed to move visitors between the various levels of the tower, whilst the seven escalators are intended to optimise visitor flow and circulation throughout the entire complex. “We are delighted to have been awarded this prestigious project,” commented René Kunz, now Member of the Executive Board as Techinical Director at
Schindler Switzerland. “The work on the Titlis represents a fantastic challenge, allowing us to put our vast experience with sustainable solutions to the test in a very demanding Alpine environment.”
Titlis Tower Fact Sheet / Titlis Project
Key facts about the Titlis Tower
Opening: early June 2026
Start of construction: 8 May 2023
Location: Titlis, Engelberg (Switzerland)
Altitude: 3,020 m above sea level
Tower height: 76 metres (including antenna installations)
Horizon Deck height: 54 metres
Joseph’s restaurant height: 47 metres
Project: Herzog & de Meuron, (Basel, Switzerland / Basilea, Svizzera)
Partners: Jacques Herzog, Pierre de Meuron, Andreas Fries (Partner in Charge since/dal 2020), Michael Fischer (Partner in Charge 2017-2020)
BIOGRAPHICAL DETAILS
Architect Arianna Callocchia, co-owner of Studio Callocchia in Rome, specialises in architecture, design and communication. In 2000, after obtaining her degree in Architecture with a thesis entitled ‘The lift in residential buildings. A critical analysis and design guidelines’, she began collaborating with Volpe Editore, publishing
the article ‘Lifts as expression of architecture’ in Elevatori (issue no. 5/2000). Her various publications also include the book ‘The evolution of the lift in architecture.
A critical analysis and methodological proposals for restoration and new design’, published in 2002 by the Lazio Region.
As curator, she conceived and organised a conference and exhibition entitled ‘Accessible architecture, from landscape to building: Swiss examples’, held in Rome in 2007. In 2011, she conceived and designed the Domus Lift – Crystal Clear for the IGV Group, the world’s first lift car made from Swarovski crystals.
