Students gain practical experience on the building site: In the current winter semester 2012/13, students starting their Bachelor’s degree programme in Architecture received an insight into working life at two companies in Schaan: Frommelt Zimmerei Ing. Holzbau AG and Gebr. Hilti Bauunternehmung AG.
Students gain practical experience on the building site: In the current winter semester 2012/13, students starting their Bachelor’s degree programme in Architecture received an insight into working life at two companies in Schaan: Frommelt Zimmerei Ing. Holzbau AG and Gebr. Hilti Bauunternehmung AG.
For one week, the students were able to get their hands dirty by experiencing, for instance, how formwork can be fashioned from wood or how to plaster, and lay bricks for, a wall. “That was hard physical work,” said the architect and responsible module coordinator at the Institute of Architecture and Planning, Carmen Rist-Stadelmann. “But the students had great fun.”
Working with timber and concrete
After a tour through the production area of Frommelt Zimmerei, the students went straight to work at the start of the practical week. Based on their own ideas and designs, they made formwork out of wood for their concrete objects. On the next day, this formwork was used to cast concrete at Gebr. Hilti as a second step. At the end of the week, the objects could be stripped off the formwork.
Overseen by Heiko Büchel at Gebr. Hilti, the students also learned how to mix concrete by hand, how to create formwork for a concrete wall and how to handle bricks. To brick or concrete a straight wall is a skill that has to be learned. This experience is one that the around 30 future architects also had to make. They also visited a large Gebr. Hilti construction site with Meinrad Signer, and learned about the work processes directly on site. 
Two strong partners from the Liechtenstein economy
According to Carmen Rist-Stadelmann, practical relevance is at the fore in this project week. “We are delighted to have such strong cooperation partners from industry in Christoph Frommelt and Kaspar Hilti. It cannot be taken for granted that they provide us with production areas, storage facilities and material.” Furthermore, the group were accompanied by skilled workers who supported the students.
For their part, the companies were able to bring the future architects closer to the craftsmanship aspects of building – an important supplement to the theoretical planning and designing in everyday student life. Thanks to the positive feedback from the students and the companies, this practical week at the start of the semester will now be integrated into the degree programme in Architecture.
The concrete objects cast by the students can be seen at the University of Liechtenstein until the start of February.
You can find more information on studying Architecture at the University of Liechtenstein at www.uni.li/architektur.