Completed in August, 'Ötzi Peak' is a brand new observation deck located on top of the Val Senales Glacier in northern Italy.
Source: noa* network of architecture
Rising 3,251 meters, or more than 10,600 feet, above sea level, it offers sweeping views of the surrounding Alpine landscape, including an ancient UNESCO shepherd's trail and the Italy-Austria border.
Source: noa* network of architecture, Tourist office Schnalstal Valley
Val Senales is well regarded as a ski and hiking destination. It's also famously known as the place where Ötzi the Iceman, one of the world's most scientifically significant mummies, was discovered in 1991.
Source: South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology, Tourist Office of Schnalstal Valley
To access the platform, travelers can take take a cable car from the the town of Maso Corto in South Tyrol up to the 36-room Glacier Hotel Grawand, one of the highest hotels in Europe.
Source: noa* network of architecture
From there, Ötzi Peak is a 10-minute walk. It is free to visit year-round, and accessible via a staircase with a guard rail.
Source: noa* network of architecture
Made of corten steel, the observation deck was built around the existing summit cross and appears to float above the landscape.
Source: noa* network of architecture
From the platform, visitors can "experience nature at its fullest: rugged, stony, with wind and weather – pure," architecture studio noa* writes in its project description.
Source: noa* network of architecture
Slotted walls serve as a guard rail while maximizing views.
Source: noa* network of architecture
Facing east is an angular viewing funnel that looks out toward the place where Ötzi was preserved in ice for 5,300 years.
Source: noa* network of architecture, Tourist Office of Schnalstal Valley
Written above its entrance are the words #IcemanOtziPeak3251m.
Source: noa* network of architecture
Emerging from the funnel, travelers can step out onto a deck with a glass railing.
Source: noa* network of architecture
Overall, noa* wanted to create an experience where visitors can "become one with the mountains and breathe in the freedom."
Source: noa* network of architecture