The idea was to plan a building which is dedicated to jazz. It was a challenge to bring the two disciplines together as jazz music works with improvisation and serendipity while architecture seaks to avoid random and tries to plan and fix things to make them persist. The second question was how to integrate a new building into the grown city structure of the old town in Basel. During our research we realized that the plan of the buildings on the site hasn't changed much during centuries although the buildings themselves were exchanged several times. So we decided to believe in the "architecture-trouvée" and create the building's volume on the base of the old citymap. The result is a diverse volume with a courtyard in the center.
© Georg Aerni

Architects: Buol & Zünd

Location: Utengasse 15, 4058 Basel, Switzerland

Design Team: Robert Müller, Vincenzo Maddalena, Rémy Schuster, Jules Hausherr, Johannes Schäfer, Franziska Moog, Yannick Schnetz, Bruno Radelfinger, Reem Al- Wakeel, Martin Schröder, Judith Sagl

Project Year: 2013

Photographs: Georg Aerni

Structural Engineering: WGG Schnetzer Puksas, Basel

Acoustics: Applied acoustics, Gelterkinden

Ventilation Planners: Ruedi Wirz, Basel

Construction Management: Sulzer + Buzzi, Pratteln

Steel L...