At the end of the Eggental valley, there is nothing more except peace, natural freshness and the mighty Latemar massif. The mountain in the Dolomites, a UNESCO world heritage site, dominates the landscape around the Karersee lake. The Thaler family, who were already running a farm here at an altitude of 1,600 metres in the village Obereggen and who had the “Cristal” hotel built in 1984, call this a spiritual home. In 2015, they called in the architects Walter Pichler & Partner, Bozen, to manage an extension and renovation project. As a part of this project, the Prader master carpentry company based in Barbian produced and assembled more than 200 doors, and consciously selected door hinges from BaSys – Bartels Systembeschläge based in Kalletal.

Despite its size – 96 rooms, the restaurant, conference rooms and wellness facilities including six saunas – the “Cristal” blends harmoniously into the landscape, taking on its form with modern wood fitted both inside and out. The weathered appearance of the facade takes up the tone of the surroundings, blurring nature and topography with the building. Clean lines and minimalism in the interior ensure a timeless design that will continue to invite you to relax and enjoy a well-balanced combination of enjoyment, relaxation, sports and nature in ten years’ time.

This concept was taken up by the Prader master carpentry company, commissioned by the architecture firm, who Pichler says works “very reliably” and is “well positioned in South Tyrol”. The family business, which has been operating since 1973 and currently employs 15 people, specializes in custom-made doors. They have been working together with BaSys since 2007, says Hannes Prader. At that time, the partners installed a total of 500 flush-mounted doors with the “Pivota DX 38” concealed hinge in a building complex with 90 apartments. This pilot project worked out successfully and laid the foundation for a long term business relationship. “The quality of the BaSys hinges is ideal and the workmanship is good, which is why nowadays we work with the entire BaSys range.”explains Prader.

BaSys has good project expertise

He therefore trusted in the good experiences of the past during the “Cristal” hotel project. “The timing plan was very rigidly structured, the builders had a high demand on quality, and we had to provide a great deal of flexibility – not just with our capacity in the workshop, but also in cooperation with our partners,” Hannes Prader explains about the demands of the project, for which his company developed 50 E60 and 10 E30 fire doors, 80 flush-mounted interior doors, 25 sliding-glass doors, 25 wooden doors, 10 full-glass doors and 5 special doors for the conference rooms with increased requirements on soundproofing.

“Throughout the project, BaSys supported us again and again with its project experience”, enthuses Hannes Prader, “and they work in Kalletal very flexible in terms of surface variety and small batch sizes.” This is demonstrated in particular by the 30 hinges on the full-glass doors in the swimming pool and wellness facilities. “Normally, anything that comes even close to chlorine will rust,” explains Prader. BaSys therefore produced a special stainless-steel hinge with a high-quality finish.

“The ‘DX38’ is a great hinge!”

The experts mounted 15 of the “Pivota DX 200” hinges for 200-kilogram doors on the doors to the conference rooms and the panorama sauna; 250 of the “Pivota DX38” hinges for 60-kilogram doors were installed, each in a designer version – here, magnetically-held cover plates ensure a screw-free appearance. At least three concealed hinges were installed on each door leaf; but two were enough for the load-bearing capacity, says Prader and enthuses, “The ‘DX 38’ is just a great hinge.”

As a concealed hinges, it belongs to the “Pivota DX” product range, which, with load-bearing capacities of 40 to 350 kilograms per pair, covers the entire door spectrum from the simple domestic door right through to the highly complex commercial property door. The centrepiece of the series is the design principle developed and patented by BaSys: a symmetrical four-knuckle joint that transmits the forces from the door wing evenly to the frame. It is connected to the hinge elements by pistons which support the hinge transversally. They distribute the forces arising during opening and closing in all directions circularly. This principle gives doors a smooth mechanical action. It reliably takes up door-leaf weights and, together with the solid material used, provides a high level of stability – even in conjunction with extreme weights and frequent use.

The best way to describe the translation of the hotel philosophy, right down to the smallest detail of the door hinges is: minimalist and powerful, sophisticated and sustainable. While looking at “his” doors in the “Cristal” hotel, Hannes Prader likes to remember the time when he first met the brothers Albert and Jürgen Bartels at a trade fair and took on the first joint projects. “We had a good cooperation right from the start, and when something is successful, you stay with it.”