Basel – a Mecca for architecture
Contemporary
architecture has become a brand name for Basel. Cutting-edge buildings by top international architects
in fascinating contrast to the dignified traditions of the old town round out the image of a cosmopolitan
metropolis. Visitors are welcomed by architectural highlights from the time they set foot outside the
historic halls of the main train station: nearby are the copper signal tower, the locomotive depot,
and the Alsace Gate glass palace by Herzog & de Meuron from Basel. Just across the road are the
white Euregio office building by the American Richard Meier and Roger Diener’s distinctive UBS training
center building. In the immediate vicinity is the Peter Merian House by Zwimpfer Partners with its spectacular,
emerald-green façade executed by the artist Donald Judd along with the Jakob Burckhardt House by Zwimpfer
Partner and Jakob Steib. Just a five minute walk from the main train station brings you to the bank
building conceived as a round sculpture by Mario Botta.
Pioneering
museum buildings
In the last two decades, pioneering museum buildings
have been constructed thanks to private patrons: An outstanding statement of contemporary architecture
is the monumental Schaulager in Münchenstein, designed in 2003 by Herzog & de
Meuron. In 1997, the
Hildy and Ernst Beyerler collection found a new home in the Fondation Beyer Museum
in Riehen using plans
drawn by Renzo Piano. The Tinguely Museum was constructed by Mario Botta in 1996.
And just outside Basel,
in Weil am Rhein, Germany, the Swiss furniture manufacture Vitra established the Vitra
Design Museum
and architecture park with buildings from Frank O. Gehry, Zaha Hadid, Nicolas Grimschaw, Alvaro Siza
and Tadao Ando.
Spectacular major projects
The
Messeturm, erected by the architect cooperative of Morger Degelo Marques in 2003,
is among the most
recent architectural highlights in Basel. Already under construction is the new Novartis Campus under
the direction of a renowned team of architects, including Diener & Diener, Adolf Krischanitz, Kazuyo
Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa (SAANA). Just getting underway is the extension of the exhibition centre with
plans drawn up by Herzog & de Meuron.
Swiss Museum
of Architecture
Basel’s claim to fame as an accessible and permanent open-air exhibition of high-quality and exemplary architecture is justified and recognized by the many quality architects working here. In light of this, it hardly comes as a surprise that the Swiss Museum of Architecture is at home in Basel, where changing exhibits of international and Swiss architecture are on display. Over the course of time the museum, with its varied activities, has established itself as a highly regarded cultural institution, a strong voice within a growing public discussion about architecture.
