Featuring shingles and windows flanked by red wooden shutters, the Hotel Adler is a typical Bregenzerwald building that has been repeatedly remodelled over the past nearly 300 years. First mentioned in a document in 1738, the building has been transformed step by step from a farmhouse that once hosted guests to the hotel it is today. Situated in the centre of the village and in spite of its close neighbours, it is something of a self-contained oasis.

From the outside, you can already tell that the “Adler” has been rebuilt and extended again and again. After all, the look of the wing that was added to the back of the building about 30 years ago is completely different from the ground floor of the original building, which was renovated around the same time with tremendous sensitivity. This time around, however, the most recent renovation changes are hardly noticeable from the outside. The Muxel family entrusted the work to architect Albert Moosbrugger from the “firm” architectural firm in Lustenau. As a native of Schoppernau, he has been familiar with the “Adler” “forever”, so to speak.

The aim of the latest round of renovations was to transform the previously dark cellar into a bright, airy place of relaxation. Over an area of around 170 square metres, people can now sweat happily in the sauna and infrared cabins before heading to the relaxation room, where silver fir is the dominant building material.

Meanwhile, the large parlour of the Gasthof Adler, which is more than 150 years old, has been preserved virtually unchanged. Other areas on the ground floor, such as the bar and lounges, have been adapted to today’s requirements with a careful eye for materials and scale. Albert Moosbrugger also gave the 14 guest rooms in the rear wing a gentle facelift. The bathrooms and furniture were deemed sufficiently adequate to be retained, while the floors, lighting and all the fabrics are new.

The seven rooms in the attic, on the other hand, underwent major renovations after 30 years. Their formerly small windows were enlarged to room height, and new small ones were cut into the gable. Light plays a central role in the rooms, as does the use of sustainable, authentic materials sourced from the Bregenzerwald region. Each of the seven newly furnished rooms has its own distinct character. In each room, however, there is a sofa designed by Albert Moosbrugger, which was made in the traditional way from sustainable materials by carpenters from the Bregenzerwald.

The Muxels are particularly proud that their hotel received the Austrian Eco-label, which they received because they heat the “Adler” with geothermal energy, rely on green electricity and fill their whirlpool with warm water using a circulation pump.

Architecture: firm Architekten, Lustenau