Striking red steelwork marks transformation of 1960s Liechtenstein home

https://www.dezeen.com/2025/08/20/number-7-bretscha-liechtenstein-home-renovation-dominic-spalt-architektur/





Local studio Dominic Spalt Architektur has renovated a 1960s house to create a multi-generational home characterised by red steelwork elements in Schaan, Liechtenstein. The studio sought to transform Number 7 Bretscha through "minimal but precise interventions" that respect the existing structure while facilitating its use by three generations of the same family – parents, children and a grandmother.









Contrasted against the white facade, a red steel spiral staircase to the south of the property leads up to a balcony framed by scaffolding-like beams and a corrugated iron roof. "The scaffolding in front of the balcony connects the house to the garden," Dominic Spalt Architektur founder Dominic Spalt told Dezeen. "With its plants, it acts as a green filter for the rooms behind it, while also forming a new garden facade."











In order to accommodate the three generations who live in the house, the studio created two separate apartments on top of one another, connected by an internal staircase. The lower-level residential unit, which is occupied by the grandmother and accessed via the garden, remains largely unchanged except for adjustments to colour accents and new openings for pipes. Upstairs, in the unit intended for the parents and their children, a series of simple alterations were made to the bedrooms and a dividing wall was removed to allow for direct access to the bathroom.









On the other side of the property, a set of red steel stairs emerging from two large overlapping stones serves as a separate entrance to the upper apartment and shared living space. Dominic Spalt Architektur created a large, open-plan living space, which includes a kitchen, living room and mezzanine, in the former attic for all of the family to use. Windows were carefully positioned to allow natural light into the space and to frame views of both the garden and the Drei Schwestern mountain range. "One focus was on preserving the garden, and the spatial integration of a forty-year-old tree," said Spalt. "The new living space now opens onto the garden and provides a direct connection to the treetop."

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