As BIZ announced Wednesday, the jury unanimously selected the design of the architectural offices of Elemental from Santiago de Chile and Nissen Wentzlaff from Basel as the winning project.
The new 107-metre-tall building is intended to replace the aging old buildings around the nearly 70-metre-high circular tower, creating space for BIS to concentrate its approximately 600 jobs in a campus-like location. According to the press release, the new building design should also create space for a growing number of international meetings.
According to the paper, the jury praised the solution, with a second tower matching the growing skyline around the Basel SBB train station area. The tower, with its square floor plan and permeable facade with lots of wood, offers an “elegant contrast” to the old building built in the 1970s according to Martin Burckhardt’s designs.
The reconstruction of the area was carried out in accordance with the development plan approved by the Basel government and the Grand Council in 2015. This allows for a gross floor area of 68,000 square feet.
(SDA)