Architecture Walk in Liechtenstein

Introduction Week Assignment Summer Semester 2016

Architecture walk in Liechtenstein “More industrial than you think”

Team: Ahméd Shukry, Rusudan Tkemaladze, Gloria Bako, Yuriy Goncharenko

Agenda 1.

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Team members: Ahmed Shukry Rusudan Tkemaladze Gloria Bako Yuriy Goncharenko Working title: “Architecture for non-architects: The Industrial Liechtenstein”

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Which staff members at uni.li have you consulted? What are the main outcomes of your meeting?

Mrs. Trudi Ackermann. Brain storming new ideas that could reflect the richness of the subject and possibilities for presenting it.

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Who exactly is your project for?

The project targets the audience students from the University of Liechtenstein, staff and future international students and especially those who are not architecturally oriented.

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What is the purpose of your project? How can you meet the needs and interests of your target audience?

Present the industrial architecture in Liechtenstein through time and its repurposing to serve the needs of the people of Liechtenstein and in-relation with the international trade and modern times.

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What have you agreed with your consultant to achieve by the end of this week?

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Together with our project’s consultant Mrs. Kay Frommelt have agreed to gather further information in order to fully cover the aspects of the project. b.

Documenting and observing real factories in Liechtenstein to further enrich the project with real life observations and documentations: through taking 2- two hour intensive bus and walking tours exploring and photographing interesting industrial landmarks and the types of architecture and land use in Liechtenstein. c.

Sharing our impressions in meetings with a few local experts who can answer questions and enrich the project.

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Table of content

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Overview

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A glimpse to the Past

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Industrial Park - Schaan

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Industrial Park - Balzers

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Industrial Park - Ruggell

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Industrial Park - Triesen

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Map of Industries sites in Liechtenstein 18

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Final words

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Refenrence list

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Overview From the many things that the principality of Liechtenstein could be well known for is its beautiful landscape or its doubled-locked geographical location falling in between Switzerland and Austria in the Alpine region. It could be even well known for its small size, its financial sector or even being a foremost winter sports destination. However, the principality holds a long history behind that helped in making what is known today to be the Principality of Liechtenstein. What you might not know is that Liechtenstein is in fact a major industrial country. What is quite astonishing is besides having the lowest unemployment rate in the world of 1.5% or the third highest gross domestic product per person in the world. Liechtenstein’s economy is actually highly shaped by its manufacturing sector representing 40% of the Gross value added according to Liechtenstein’s office of Statistics in 2013.

However, going back in history, an irrepressible question ascends of how did the Principality come to what it is today?

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A glimpse to the past Going back in Liechtenstein’s industrial history, we notice that a geographical dispersion of industry and agriculture depended mainly on their allocation within the proximity to the Rhine River. In agriculture, being close to the river meant being exposed to the danger of flooding caused by the river water.

Where for the industry especially the cotton mills it was a necessity as the weaving machines we run by turbines generated by the power of water. Thus being close to a water source was crucial.

The fact that the cotton industry flourished in Liechtenstein was due to the fact that back in the 1852 Liechtenstein was part of the customs treaty with the Austrian Empire which lasted till the year 1919. This fact was seen as an opportunity by the Swiss entrepreneurs to enter the Austrian market without having to pay the higher taxes imposed by the Austrians. Hence, the Swiss cotton factories opened the door for a new industrial era in Liechtenstein.

The machinery and workers were exploited from the region and later supported by the principality’s growing industrial workforce. The first two cotton mills were constructed in the municipality of Vaduz and Triesen.

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This movement was later further expanding to many other industries thanks to the post-war economic growth [1] (Brunhart, Dumieński, ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND LAND ISSUES IN LIECHTENSTEIN: HISTORICAL DYNAMICS, CURRENT CHALLENGES AND SUGGESTED FISCAL REMEDIES , Arbeitspapiere Liechtenstein-Institut No. 49 (2015)) and the introduction of electricity aided with the skills of the labour which was on an ongoing improvement. Not to mention the secretive banking system.

Moreover, the improvement in having a highly skilled labour opened the next era of industrialization and manufacturing where Liechtensteiner entrepreneurs found opportunities to serve bigger industrial foundations (Beattie, 2012).Thus, there has been a movement of smaller yet much specialised niche industries surrounding and serving the bigger ones. Some of these examples are the famous brothers Hilti in 1941 focusing on innovative construction machinery, Hoval a leading heating systems company founded by Gustav Ospelt in 1932, Oerlikon Balzers in 1946 one of the world’s leading suppliers of innovative surface technologies, Balzers-Unaxis - vacuum technology; Ivoclar-Vivident - dentistry equipment and false teeth and many others. This drive was aided earlier as well in the year 1924 when Liechtenstein signed a custom treaty with Switzerland and adopted the Swiss Franc as its national currency. Nevertheless, some of these companies were already established before the end of the Second World War such as Hilcona in food processing.

Nowadays, there are more than 4000 companies registered in Liechtenstein employing more than 35,000 employees. A big proportion of these employees are mainly commuting from neighbouring countries such as Switzerland and Austria on a daily basis (Ludlow, 2000). The foremost traded products are Machinery and metal products. The principality’s main foreign market is Europe accounting for 63% of its exports, Asia 19% and the Americas 15% (Statistical Office,2013b).

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In reality, the land use in Liechtenstein being highly affected by this industrial growth unveiled what is known as “industrial parks�. In almost each of the 11 municipalities there will be an industrial park where different industries from the municipality are clustered together. Entrepreneurship have been highly emphasised in the principality leading to 14.5% of its population listed as self-employed or running their own businesses. (Statistical Office, 2010). Below is a table showing the firms in Liechtenstein by size as of 2011.

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Industrial Park: Schaan

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Schaan is the largest municipality in the principality of Liechtenstein based on the fact that it is the most populous municipality. It has a population of 5,806 as recorded in 2006. It is not just the most populous but it is also a large economic centre in the country as it has over 4,000 enterprises. Among these enterprises are Hilti and Ivoclar Vivadent Aktiengensellschaft.

Hilti AG Hilti Aktiengensellschaft (also known as Hilti AG) has its headquarters located right in one of Liechtenstein’s industrial parks here in Schaan. This building is the very first production facility of the Hilti group built in the year 1941.

The administrative building depicts characteristics of modernist architecture with its extensive glazing, flat roof and cubic form. The facility has been extensively expanded over the years since its construction in 1941, however, the original industrial plant still maintains its façade with corrugated green iron walls and clerestory roof structure.

The facility is one of the largest training facilities in the Rhine Valley region and is also the Principality of Liechtenstein’s largest employer with about 400 employees in the Schaan plant and about 100 apprentices. Hilti is an employer over of 20,000 people worldwide. The company specializes in the manufacturing of power tools like drills, fasteners and saws, anchors and heavy duty diamond coring tools.

Feldkircher Strasse 100, 9494 Schaan, Liechtenstein

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Ivoclar Vivadent AG Also headquartered in Schaan is Ivoclar Vivadent AG which is a world renowned dental company specializing in the production of systems and products for dentists and dental technicians. The company originally started in Zurich, Switzerland in the year 1923 with the production of artificial teeth.

The building structure shows the characteristics of the early 20th century modernist architecture which visualizes the period it was constructed in. It has concrete walls with glazed fenestrations and the two wings of the facility are connected by a bridge at the second floor level. The main manufacturing plant has a clerestory roof similar to the one of Hilti AG. Products manufactured by Ivoclar Vivadent AG are shipped to 120 countries. It has about 3300 employees throughout the world with subsidiaries in 25 countries.

Other industries in Schaan include: Hilcona AG, Bodycote Rheintal Wärmebehandlung AG, SPM AG and Druckerei Gutenberg AG.

Bendererstrasse 2, 9494 Schaan, Liechtenstein

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Industrial Park: Balzars

Iramali 18, 9496 Balzers, Liechtenstein

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Oerlikon Balzers Oerlikon Balzers is a part of the OC Oerlikon group, a Swiss technology conglomerate, and a supplier of PVD coatings. The OC Oerlikon group consists of companies in the following industries: textile, drive systems, vacuum technologies, solar, coating and advanced technologies. The coatings produced by Oerlikon Balzers aim to improve the performance and service life of, for example, metallic precision components by reducing friction and supplying additional hardness.

The firm was founded by Professor Max Auwärter, in 1946 as Gerätebauanstalt Balzers With the support of Prince Franz Josef II and Swiss industrialist Emil Georg Bührle. In 1976, the company became a member of the Oerlikon Group.

Balzars, Liechtestein is a home base for a large number of partner companies.

This is a big, post-constructivism style complex of non-connected buildings which shows clearly the pragmatic attitude of Liechtenstein industrial business world toward office renting. One can easily find a number of independent companies which have no relation with each other sharing the same office building in the same time. Brutal concrete facades combined with clear and semitransparent glass, refers to modernism of early 20th. Everything speaks of clear and strict order of successful organization.

Any property in Liechtenstein is so valuable that a company ought to be really successful in order to stay here. Most of local industries had found a way of survival in making the products which are unique and extremely valuable.

Sometimes it’s even a part of a product not a whole thing at all. In Oerlikon Balsars specialize in a way on the metallic precision components by reducing friction and supplying additional hardness.

That is one of the reasons why the industrial park can cot be truly perceived as one complex body. Architecture of each building is not similar to others.

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Industrial Park: Ruggell

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KOKON KOKON Corporate Campus in Ruggell industrial park is one of the new financial and social centers in Liechtenstein that was built in 2013.

Initial idea to create an office space for several local companies, which were willing to act as investors of the project, subsequently developed into concept of multifunctional, five stars office center. Six floors and almost 42.700 m2 of the campus is a home for dozens local and international companies that are working mostly in service and trading sector. Moreover, KOKON CC offers its 400 employees and local people such facilities as restaurant and lounge bar with terrace, fitness center, 24-hour kindergarten, congress center and multi-story parking lot for 289 cars.

The building is designed in the best traditions of modern architecture, easily combining simple geometric shapes and advanced materials. Black glassing of the facade gives strict and luxurious appearance to the building.

Im alten Riet 103, 9494 Schaan, Liechtenstein

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Industrial Park: Triesen

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Swarovski Well-known Swarovski is a â‚Ź 2.33 billion global business, with 25,000 employees and 2,560 stores in around 170 countries.

Swarovski Liechtenstein is home to a logistics hub, the supply chain management of retail products of international distribution company as well as a local sales center for Switzerland.

In this location the products are packed up and delivered for selling.

Austrian roots go to 1895, when Daniel Swarovski moved to the village of Wattens in Austria, with his newly invented machine for cutting and polishing crystal jewelry stones. Swarovski crystals soon caught the eye and sparked the imagination of customers all around the world – including the leading couturiers of Paris.

Since sixties Swarovski has also had a presence in Liechtenstein. Then in the eighties through acquisition, Swarovski found its place in Triesen beginning with production and logistics.

Swarovski Triesen is located two kilometers from Vaduz in the center of the Principality of Liechtenstein. It is embedded in the beautiful scenery of the Northern Alps.

The building architecture represents a restrained modernism structure, renovated however with folding still panels cover and High-tech style elements.

For example a shading structure in the back entrance of the building. Stylistically the facility is a mix of old and new trends in architecture.

DrĂśschistrasse 15, 9495 Triesen, Liechtenstein

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Final words The principality of Liechtenstein has proven through history that innovation and creativity has no limit. Nevertheless there are a number of challenges to come such as the dependency on the Swiss Francs and the fact that the Principality has no control over it. In addition there is the issue of having a dependable and adequate portion of national skilled workers. On the other side, the future looks promising to Liechtenstein with the aid of globalisation and the chances open to penetrate other major markets such as Asia and the Middle-East. Specially, with focusing on serving very specialised and niche markets. Undoubtedly the future holds many folded challenges to come yet the Principality along with its wise lead and the will of its people shall continue to grow. Driven by state-of-the-art and striving manufacturing industry and its entrepreneurs who aren’t awaiting the future but actually making it.

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References: (Brunhart, Dumieński, ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND LAND ISSUES IN LIECHTENSTEIN: HISTORICAL DYNAMICS, CURRENT CHALLENGES AND SUGGESTED FISCAL REMEDIES , Arbeitspapiere Liechtenstein-Institut No. 49 (2015)) Ludlow, P. (2000) Liechtenstein in the New European & Global Order: Challenges & Options, Centre for European Policy Studies, Brussels.

Schuessler, F., Schaper, M.T. and Kraus,S. (2014) ‘Entrepreneurship in an Alpine micro-nation: the case of Liechtenstein’, Int. J. Entrepreneurship and Small Business, Vol. 22, No. 1, pp.106–114.

Beattie, D. (2012) Liechtenstein: A Modern History, Frank P. van Eck Publishers, Triesen.

Liechtenstein statistics office Publications (2010, 20111, 2013, 2015, 2016) Swarovski: http://www.swarovskigroup.com/S/careers/Swarovski_in_Liechtenstein.en.html Map: http://d-maps.com/carte.php?num_car=5735&lang=en

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