A 250-year-old house, which long served as school and vicarage, has been converted into a library, a municipal office and a nursing ward, while also continuing to house the parish office.

The public buildings – schools, municipal buildings – in the Bregenzerwald region differed from the elongated farmhouses with their flat saddle roofs not only in terms of the layout and height of the volumes, but also with regard to their steep hip or pyramidal roofs. The 18th-century vicarage in Schnepfau can also be easily identified on the basis of these characteristics. It stands opposite the parish church and marks the western end of the village square. In 2000, the house was purchased by the municipality and revitalized, integrating further public uses: a library and nursing service were accommodated on the ground floor, the municipal office resides on the timber-structured first floor and the second floor is home to the parish office and an apartment. The integration of these additional uses required a redevelopment of the interior. A new staircase with an elevator was inserted at the northeast corner of the building. The ceiling above the first floor had to be slightly elevated and the height of the windows had to be adjusted accordingly, without changing the proportions of the facade. In coordination with the National Registry of Historic Buildings, much of the original building fabric was preserved, but the new elements – fixed as well as mobile ones – were crafted in a clearly contemporary manner. text: Otto Kapfinger "Hermann Kaufmann Wood Works"