At the Liechtenstein headquarters of the firm of Hilti AG in Schaan the new building of the Training Centre stands out for miles around. The compact structure with its extraordinary natural stone facade is situated on the highest point of the company premises and forms a boundary to the wooded mountain slope.
Studio Name: Baumschlager Eberle Architekten
Design team: Marco Franzmann
Area: Furx 25, 6835 Zwischenwassser, Austria
Year: 2021 (=completion)
Location: Furx 25, 6835 Zwischenwassser, Austria
Photographer Credit: A.I. Schnabel and René Dürr
The shell composed of quarry-faced, 12-cm-thick gneiss stones, which envelopes the supporting reinforced concrete walls, draws upon regional construction techniques and integrates the new building into its natural surroundings. The carefully crafted, nuanced surface of the facade makes the generously proportioned building appear at once massive and elegant.
The homogeneous shell conceals a wide range of uses: a 700-square-metre Training Hall, seminar room and office space are economically and neatly spread over eight levels. The complex structure is linked up by broad flights of stairs and patios, through which the daylight penetrates deep into the interior of the building. Above the English basement with the Training Hall, on the level of the new forecourt, there is the reception area with the foyer and an exhibition on company history. The first upper storey contains three variable training rooms facing the edge of the forest to the east, while the big, two-storey foyer opens onto a terrace with a panoramic view of the Rhine valley. The two upper floors are reserved for office space, which they offer in ample measure. All mechanical service rooms have been reduced to a minimum and accommodated in the supporting core. Particularly stringent technical requirements have to be met by the Training Hall, where users are trained in how to handle Hilti products. In order to avoid disturbances in the other areas, a “house-within-a-house” solution has been chosen, which acoustically separates the entire hall from the supporting structure.
Restrained white surfaces in combination with stained oak for window frames, doors, built-in furniture and flooring materials, and in some places floors of ground mastic asphalt, are characteristic features of the building. As a convincing example of a new corporate architecture the Training Centre will give a powerful boost to the future development of the company grounds.
