With their proposal for the conversion and new construction of four office buildings into an administrative centre with offices and counter halls, Jessenvollenweider Achitekten from Basel won the competition of the St.Gallen building authority in 2003. The project was realised in the historic city centre of St. Gallen from 2009 to 2012. The two existing adjacent staircases were demolished and replaced by a spacious, zenithally-lit main staircase. This created the prerequisite for bringing three of the four buildings to one continuous level. We gave the two lifts an independent geometry and physicality with a continuous shaft cladding made of twisted and yellow galvanised steel profiles, which express the significance as a public building in the urban space. For both lifts, the theme of the special material surface was taken up and implemented down to the last detail.