LGT Bank Vaduz

Competition 1st prize – This new extension for the LGT, a private bank in Vaduz, Liechtenstein, reflects the client’s ambitious goals as regards sustainability. The competition entry proposes a timber building to provide up to 400 new workplaces. The new building is placed on Egertaweg, along which the backbone of its comb-like structure extends, following the topography.
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The planned new building in Vaduz is part of the core zone that consists mostly of commercial and service businesses. As the “fingers” are offset in height and are placed parallel to the slope the buildings are three to four storeys high, which is typical of this district.

On Egertastrasse and on Altenbach the large form creates relatively short three-storey facades appropriate to this district. The new building, which extends as far as Herrengasse, offers major potential for clarifying the district. The staggering of the entrance facade on Egertaweg indicates the comb-like structure behind, and, together with the existing main building, creates outdoor spaces of various kinds.

Egertaweg and the existing gardens lie at a distance to the main traffic arteries and offer an opportunity to exploit the qualities of the second row of buildings and to present them to staff members as a high-quality area for recreation and breaks from work. Flowering meadows and shrubs are used to create a variety of outdoor spaces.

The new building is connected to the existing building by Egertaweg, which here forms part of the park, by the underground garage, and by a new entrance at first floor level. The internal circulation and the connections between the three fingers allow people to move through the building from half-storey to half-storey. All the workspaces receive light from two sides and face the luxuriantly planted inner courtyards. A narrow middle zone accommodates the ancillary spaces, thus avoiding impairing the transparency from facade to facade and across the courtyards.

The untreated wood facade, which could be made of oak, requires very little maintenance and is highly weather-resistant. In the interior, the structure of glulam beams is the defining element that creates the spatial mood.