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Unit

Built Heritage and Circularity

Gebäude aus grauen Steinblöcken

The “Built Heritage and Circularity” unit examines the built environment and products of the construction industry as stocks of material and cultural resources. It places what has already been built and produced, together with its long-term preservation and care, at the centre of research and architectural design. Its work focuses on strategies for adapting and reusing the existing fabric, as well as on principles of design for disassembly and circularity. Buildings are thus understood no longer as consumers of resources, but as resource banks that remain usable, adaptable and transformable over the long term.

Gebäude aus grauen Steinblöcken

NB: The “Built Heritage and Upcycling” Unit will be renamed “Built Heritage and Circularity” as of September 2026.

News

Drei Männer schauen auf ein schwarzes Buch
«Upcycling» Exhibition Officially Opened
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Zwei Männer und eine Frau schauen in die Kamera
Connections – Exchange with Hilti AG on Design for Disassembly
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Ein rosafarbener Gang mit Vorhängen
Austrian National Design Award 2026 for Project by Lecturer of Practice Nina Beck
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Drei Männer blicken frontal in die Kamera
Successful Dissertation Defence on Buildings as Digital Material Banks
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Gruppenbild von vier Personen
Circular Construction in Focus: Pioneer Barbara Buser in Schaan
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Cover mit bunten Quadraten und schwarzer Schrift
Contribution to White Paper on Circular Construction
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Schwarz-Weiss Aufnahme eines Einfamilienhauses des Architekten Ernst Sommerlad in Liechtenstein
Ernst Sommerlad: Architect 1895–1977
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Bauteilinventar
Sustainability through Drawing Conventions
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Ein Gruppenbild von 10 Personen vor einer Leinwand
Liechtenstein Contribution to the 2025 Architecture Biennale
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Visualisierung eines Mehrparteienhauses in Basel
Bachelor student Martin Dupont on hochparterre.ch
Hochparterre Article
Mehrere Menschen laufen neben einem alten Fabriksgebäude
Excursion to Zurich
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Lectures and Seminars
Design
Excursions

Knowledge and Resource Platform

Graue Kachel mit dem Titel "Bauerbe Liechtenstein"
Olivgrüne Kachel mit dem Titel "Library of Reuse"
Grünes Logo mit gelbem Hintergrund

Research Projects

Reusable wooden building blocks. Construction principles since the industrialization of the building industry

FFF-Funding Project
May 2026 until April 2027
More than one third of global energy consumption and nearly 40% of CO2 emissions are caused by the construction and use of buildings. In the Liechtenstein-Switzerland-Austria region, around 80% of ... More

Circular Building Systems: Segmented Construction Approaches à la Philibert de L'Orme Using the Example of the Caserne Rochambeau

PhD-Thesis
since September 2023
The segmented construction method developed by Philibert de L'Orme in the 16th century can be interpreted as an early example of circular building principles. By employing modular, disassemblable ... More

The Life After. To the History of Re-Use in Architecture in the 20th century

PhD-Thesis
since September 2021
The history of architecture is a history of completed buildings and ended narratives. In a circular construction economy, however, the end of a building is also the beginning of a new story. Due to ... More

Circular construction with modular building blocks. Potentials of reusability of components from patent applications 1877-1960

FFF-Funding Project
July 2023 until December 2024 (Completed)
The construction sector öfters the highest potential for reducing waste and resource depletion that arising environmental and climate challenge so urgently needs: Through enduring use instead of ... More

Buildings as digital material banks. BIM tools for construction material recovery in planning process and building disassembly.

PhD-Thesis
September 2021 until April 2026 (Completed)
Transition from linear (take, make, dispose) towards circular economy (make, use, recycle) is a fundamental prerequisite for achieving a sustainable growth and limiting global warming. Digitalization ... More

Renewable Architecture - the Circular Building as a Material Bank and Repository of Knowledge

API-Funding Project
November 2019 until October 2022 (Completed)
The construction industry is the main cause of global pollution, resource depletion, and consumption of energy from nonrenewable sources. The complete reincorporation of building materials into ... More

Reusing & Upcycling Architecture: Rethinking the way we build things

FFF-Funding Project
November 2018 until October 2019 (Completed)
The exploitation and destruction of the environment makes a paradigm change in the consumption of resources imperative: in the future, building 'new' must be separated from the dogma of constructing ... More

Selected Publications

Buch

WEITERBAUEN IN STAHL 

Architektur der Aufstockung

Daniel Stockhammer, Astrid Staufer, Daniel Meyer (Eds.) 2018, Zurich University of Applied Sciences


Park Books

upcycling-wiederverwendung-in-der-architektur-liechtenstein-school-of-architectur

UPCYCLING

Reuse and Repurposing as a Design Principle in Architecture


Daniel Stockhammer, Universität Liechtenstein (Ed.), 2020


Triest Verlag

Team Built Heritage and Upcycling