Built Heritage and Upcycling
The unit Built Heritage and Upcycling explores the resources of the built environment and strategies for their preservation, transformation, and integration into a circular construction economy. At the core of its work lies the reframing of a moral question into an architectural and economic one, the architectural potential of preservation strategies, and the sustainability of circular construction principles. Not the primacy of free form, but design through care, repair, reuse, and adaptation strengthens cultural identity and, we argue, makes architecture formally binding and socially (again) relevant.
Architecture becomes a resource.
News
The 130th birthday of Liechtenstein’s first academically trained architect was honoured with two exhibitions, a symposium, and a publication.
As part of the International Architecture Exhibition of the Biennale di Venezia 2025, the design studio of Alberto Alessi and Barbara Ruech at the University of Liechtenstein organised the Biennale Sessions under the title “Taking Care of Care”.
On 14 November 2025, students from the Master’s degree programme in Architecture undertook a specialist excursion to Zurich. They were accompanied by the lecturers Dr Britta Hentschel and Dr Gyler Mydyti. The excursion formed part of the two elective courses Built Heritage and Urban Design.
Bachelor student Martin Dupont reports on his project “Le Jardin” on hochparterre.ch/campus. The project was developed as part of “(Dis)Assembly: Reusing Modular Structures for Housing.”
Construction Memory Liechtenstein
The Digital Construction Memory Liechtenstein is a publicly accessible archive of the University of Liechtenstein, providing a systematically curated collection of relevant documents, plans, photographs and projects related to significant buildings in Liechtenstein and the surrounding region. It thus preserves the regional architectural culture for the long term and makes it accessible for research. The Construction Memory Liechtenstein is currently under development. The first projects will be available from 2026 onwards.
Library of Reuse
The Library of Reuse is a digital platform for circular construction. The Built Heritage and Upcycling unit at the LSA contributes to its development under the direction of Prof Dr Daniel Stockhammer — through research, practical examples and methodological contributions on the reuse of building components and materials. The existing building stock is thus reimagined as a resource.
Research Projects
