STATUS
COMPLETED
CLIENT
Nüesch Development | UBS Fund Management | Christoph Merian Stiftung
TYPOLOGY
Residential
SIZE M2/FT2
30,000 / 322,920
SHARE
Situated next to the Herzog & de Meuron Foundation and the Academy of Art and Design FHNW, Transitlager is part of a larger redevelopment of a new arts district in Basel, Dreispitz. The neighborhood is characterized by weaving geometries of infrastructure: intersecting railways, loading docs, and a puzzle of linear buildings with sharp edges and staggered facade lines.
BIG converted the former 1960s Transitlager warehouse with an ‘opposite twin’: both the old and the new are the same size, born out of the same structural grid, but assuming different massing, geometry, and scales of use. One is straight, the other zigzagged; one is singular, the other serial; one is open and flexible, the other bespoke; public contrasts private while vibrant urban spaces complement private gardens.
The solid concrete building with deep floor plans and large spans had to be converted and expanded into a mix of restaurants, galleries, and apartments.
TRANSITLAGER
— The solid concrete building with deep floor plans and large spans had to be converted and expanded into a mix of restaurants, galleries and apartments.
TRANSITLAGER
— The solid concrete building with deep floor plans and large spans had to be converted and expanded into a mix of restaurants, galleries and apartments.
Double Program
— The local plan allowed for the addition of three extra levels on top of the existing 4 story building. The added volume was too deep to create an efficient housing layout.
New Cores
— BIG divided the new volume into five sections with centrally located access cores.
Rotation
— Each section is rotated in order to improve facade area, allowing for plenty of daylight into all units, while retaining the efficiency of a point house typology.
Grid
— The rotated volumes are matched to the existing column grid, creating an economical structural system.
Sun Orientation
— The resulting volume allows for units that are all facing in more than one direction, and where no unit is directly north facing.
Sky Lights
— In the openings are placed skylights, letting daylight into the deepest areas of the atelier floor.
Sky Gardens
— The leftover areas become rooftop gardens with views over Dreispitz.
BIG’s design inherits features from its industrial surroundings, characterized by the geometries of infrastructures that weave through the city: intersecting railways, loading docks, and turning radiuses influence the staggered edges, pointed ends, and sharp corners of the warehouse’s new identity.
The extension doubles the size of the Transitlager and becomes an opposite twin – based on the same structure, but with a different geometry.
The combined building becomes a spectrum of optimal conditions – from open and flexible plans to tailor made units; from public programs to private residences; from vibrant urban space to peaceful green gardens; from cool industrial to warm and refined.
The resulting rooftop folds form a new type of ‘roofyard’ that enhances communal living with panoramic views to Florenzstrasse and nearby botanical garden.
The uppermost residential floors with 103 apartments and lofts – comprising open and flexible plans to tailor-made units – are rotated for optimal views and natural light to enter from more than one side. The double height spaces become lofts for living and working.
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Bjarke Ingels Finn Nørkjær Martin Voelkle Andreas Klok Pedersen Ole Elkjær-Larsen Jakob Henke Ricardo Palma Prieto Jesper Boye Andersen Annette Jensen Buster Christensen Teodor Cristian Fratila Ioannis Gio Jan Magasanik Lorenzo Boddi Mikkel Marcker Stubgaard Ryohei Koike
COLLABORATORS
Bollinger+Grohmann
Harry Gugger Studio Ltd
HL-Technik AG
Wenzel + Wenzel
Schnetzer Puska Ingenieure
