Basel, Switzerland

Our last town on this field trip was a day trip to Basel, Switzerland. Here in Basel we saw a few really great contemporary buildings. As we pulled into the Basel train station, still on the train we saw the Train Switching Station by Herzog de Meuron. We then made our way through the town to see an addition to the University of Basel and two townhouses. One townhouse (just a little before in location to the University of Basel), had a glass façade which was bent. The restrictions were kept in the means of keeping the facades flush, but there was a sort of “wave” like affect that was evident in the panels on glass that constructed the façade. The next townhouse was even more interesting. The entire façade was composed of these metal shutters that could be extended to cover the set back façade or opened like an accordion to expose it. As we went on exploring the different contemporary architecture in Basel we slowly understood their approach and method: a simple box with a profound façade. Whether it be a box volume with smaller volumes subtracted from that larger volume or a box with a delicate layered glass façade; the underlying concept was a box volume. We sketched at Renzo Piano’s Foundation Beyler for a few hours, analyazing the simple concept parti that Piano used in this building as well as how he conquered getting lighting into the building.

PS. ALWAYS, always have an umbrella on you! It can be sunny one minute and a downpour the next!