![](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2008/08/sarah-schneider-sarahaerial.jpg)
Asemic Scapes by Sarah Schneider
Asemic Scapes - Rehabilitation Center Rainberg is a concept for a medical rehabilitation centre in the Austrian Alps designed by architecture graduate Sarah Schneider.
![sarah-schneider-rend3.jpg](http://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2008/08/sarah-schneider-rend3.jpg)
Designed to accommodate 50 patients, it features balconies overlooking the mountains and raised walkways running through the surrounding forests.
![sarah-schneider-sarahinteri.jpg](http://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2008/08/sarah-schneider-sarahinteri.jpg)
Schneider is a recent graduate of Studio Lynn, an architecture course run by American architect Greg Lynn at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna. Asemic Scapes was her Diploma project.
![sarah-schneider-rend1.jpg](http://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2008/08/sarah-schneider-rend1.jpg)
The following is from Sarah Schneider:
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Asemic Scapes - Rehabilitation Center Rainberg
This project is a conceptual design for a rehabilitation center for trauma and post surgery patients with a capacity of 50 beds in the Austrian Alps, in Vorarlberg.
![sarah-schneider-mod2.jpg](http://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2008/08/sarah-schneider-mod2.jpg)
In general rehab centers like their predecessors the sanatoriums of the 19th and 20th century are based on a dualistic set of values: they embody the belief in the healing power of technology and the healing power of nature, which is why they are mostly situated in prestine landscapes.
![sarah-schneider-mod3.jpg](http://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2008/08/sarah-schneider-mod3.jpg)
Therefore my attempt was to develop a contemporary relationship to the landscape based on calligraphic ornamentation.
![sarah-schneider-lasersinter.jpg](http://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2008/08/sarah-schneider-lasersinter.jpg)
Calligraphy is adding an idea of creating variation through artistic expression to a technical matter of communication and is connected to ornamentation which generally uses natural motifs and often rules of natural growth.
![sarah-schneider-diplommodel.jpg](http://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2008/08/sarah-schneider-diplommodel.jpg)
The project develops an architecture that uses rules of natural growth and connects both growth and ornament, with a landscape environment, topologically and calligraphically.
![sarah-schneider-sarahsectio.jpg](http://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2008/08/sarah-schneider-sarahsectio.jpg)
The ornament creates a symbiotic relationship with the existing environment by framing existing topographic features and at the same time giving a feedback to the landscape by creating topographical irregularities.
![sarah-schneider-mod1.jpg](http://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2008/08/sarah-schneider-mod1.jpg)
In the landscape the ornament starts to organize the ground by subtle terracing and it creates paths that break the clear definition of an indoor ñ outdoor boundary by running through the building, widening up to create bigger platforms and shrinking back to paths when leaving the building again.
![sarah-schneider-dsc_0179.jpg](http://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2008/08/sarah-schneider-dsc_0179.jpg)
This ornamented landscape topography develops the roof structure transforming from a plan calligraphy into a complex volumetric condition of overlay and envelope.
![sarah-schneider-diplomplots-7.jpg](http://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2008/08/sarah-schneider-diplomplots-7.jpg)
![sarah-schneider-gl.jpg](http://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2008/08/sarah-schneider-gl.jpg)
![sarah-schneider-og.jpg](http://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2008/08/sarah-schneider-og.jpg)
![sarah-schneider-ug.jpg](http://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2008/08/sarah-schneider-ug.jpg)