The Transitlager's surrounding industrial area is characterized by the geometries of infrastructures—the intersecting railways, loading docks and turning radiuses that weave through the city and create a puzzle of linear buildings with pointy corners and staggered façade lines into an untraditional and adventurous urban area consisting of galleries, restaurants and creative businesses. The iconic character of the existing Transitlager, its generous surrounding public spaces, and connection to the city's botanical garden makes the building a natural focal point of the Arts District. By re-programming and extending the former warehouse into a multifunctional series of floors for various uses, BIG proposes a cross breed of art, commerce, working and living. Two distinct buildings on top of each other form a mixed-use hybrid with activity and life 24 hours a day.
We propose a transformation of the Transitlager that builds on the industrial logic of the existing building and of the surrounding area.
Type: Prequalified Competition
Size: 30,000m2
Client: Nuesch Development RG, UBS Fund Management, Christoph Merian Stiftung
Collaborators: Bollinger+Grohmann, HL- Technik
Location: Basel, Switzerland
Status: 1st Prize [Completion 2015]
Partner in Charge: Bjarke Ingels, Andreas Klok Pedersen
Project Leader: Jakob Henke
Team: Gul Ertekin, Ioannis Gio, Ricardo Palma, Alexandra Gustaffson, Bara Srpkova, Marcelina Kolasinska, Ryohei Koike