Liechtenstein Parliament Building

Since February 2008 the MPs of Liechtenstein have had a new home. With the ‘Long House’, the ‘High House’ and the ‘Joining House’ the architect Hansjörg Göritz has translated into the modern age the idea of “a stone-roofed building as a timeless archetype for holding and sheltering a legislative assembly”. And in doing so he has created a new landmark for Vaduz.

In the year 2000 the Hansjörg Göritz architectural studio from Hanover won the competition for the Parliament Building. The winning design was for a three-storey ‘Long House’ with offices, conference rooms and a terrace, as well as a two-storey ‘High House’ with a distinctive pitched roof. A glazed structure forms the ‘Joining House’ in between. The new buildings are set at the base of a steep slope among the existing ensemble of government buildings dating from 1905, a parish church from 1872 and a federal state museum. The new buildings, the forecourt and the retaining structure were built using around a million bricks custom-made in a Swiss brickworks.

In the parliamentary assembly hall, the architect’s idea has evolved into an archaic shape and an almost theatrical atmosphere. Located above a columned hall on the ground floor, the assembly hall with its 18-metre-high pitched roof of yellow brick is evocative of the Round Table. At first glance the room looks like a film set by Ken Adams. So it comes as no surprise that the large chandelier with its diameter of 9 metres has about it something of the style of the legendary set designer. The point of departure at the brainstorming sessions on the lighting for the assembly hall was, however, its almost church-like impression. A first approach foresaw small, individual pendant luminaires of the sort often seen in church naves. But when it emerged that the hall would require cameras and microphones for online coverage, the large circular chandelier proved to be the better option since it could inconspicuously integrate the necessary technical modules.

From a functional point of view, the assembly hall called for sufficient horizontal illuminance levels on the table and appropriate vertical illuminance levels of a high uniformity for shadow-free facial recognition. Bright lighting accents were also required to emphasize the representative character of the room. The chandelier has therefore been fitted with both directional and diffuse lighting components. To retain its homogeneous appearance, both light sources are concealed behind a bronze mesh that has been fitted on a frame to form the lower edge of the luminaire ring. The individual panels can be removed for maintenance. In one simple movement they can be opened up into a safe maintenance position.

A particular challenge was to develop an appropriate pendant construction for the chandelier. The countless wires for the 36 compact fluorescent lamps, 72 halogen lamps, eight microphones and four dome cameras had to be led to their connectors in a functional and inconspicuous manner. Finally, a solution was found by grouping the cables into twelve bundles. Each strand is threaded through a 20-millimetre tubular profile of the chandelier pendant construction. Without visible brackets or attachments the tubes disappear into the brickwork of the pitched roof. In addition to the chandelier, four downlights create a discreet general illumination. They are recessed in the roof ridge and can be lowered by means of simple cable winches.