Icon of concrete fetishism
At the turn of the millennium, the hand-polished surface made of black cement, basalt and embedded river pebbles from the nearby Rhine Valley, which shines like a freshly polished patent leather shoe, not only made the architects Morger & Degelo and Christian Kerez famous, it also brought the tiny state of Liechtenstein out of the shadow of its architecturally dominant Swiss neighbor and into the spotlight of the international architectural scene.
Picasso and Piaget as a Double Cheeseburger
A welcome guest in the exhibition spaces from the very beginning has been the Hilti Art Foundation, based in the neighboring town of Schaan, with its collection that has grown to 200 works, including paintings by Picasso and Gerhard Richter, 50 of which are currently on display. Unlike other art foundations of international industrial companies or fashion labels, the Hilti Art Foundation is not building its own independent campus, but rather is spatially and organizationally integrated with the Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein. Access is via the museum's foyer through an underground passage that widens in a funnel shape into an exhibition space. Those entering the new building on the ground floor from the street, however, find themselves directly in the Huber watch and jewelry store. The owner of the store is also the proprietor of the property. The new building was only made possible by demolishing the old building and constructing a pedestrian bridge. Since he wanted to relocate his business back to this prominent location, the jeweler's glazed levels (ground floor, second floor and basement) alternate with the windowless showrooms (basement, first floor, third floor) like bread rolls and cheese in a double cheeseburger, without touching each other inside.
Sky ladders spanning two floors
This is achieved through separate vertical access routes. For example, the "stairway to heaven" in the 20-metre-high stairwell leads directly from the basement, without a landing, to the artificially lit first floor, and from there to the third floor with its skylight. Here, in contrast to the grey-green and grey-blue walls, the contrast between classical modernism and post-war art is emphasized by white walls. The new "white cube" of the extension and the "black box" of the existing building complement each other seamlessly, as they share one thing in common: a highly polished surface of cast-in-place concrete. In the new building, this surface consists of marble, cement, and the familiar river gravel from the nearby Rhine Valley.
