Project 2003-2005Realization 2006-2008
The St. Jakob Tower scheme provides its setting with a vibrant urbanistic focus. In the manner of a “gateway building” it marks a key entrance point into Basel and is particularly eye-catching for drivers on the nearby motorway. The new Mercedes-Benz Showroom slots easily into the urban terrain between the St. Jakob sports and events venue and the Birs river.
The Mercedes-Benz facility is designed as an open, transparent structure, whose walls and roof slab grow out of the platform. The showroom spaces for new and second-hand cars span three levels linked by ramps.
The elevated platform (6.10 meters above the stadium perimeter level), like the existing facility, is a key pedestrian circulation hub – a place to see and be seen – while also doubling up as a venue for future events. Located on the eastern front (looking towards Muttenz), it is modeled as an artificial topography marking off the sports and visitor facilities while also creating a smooth transition to the revitalized Birs riverside pathway.
The tower’s massing responds to the particular features of the site, the occupancy types, visual axes and shading requirements. The building houses apartments mainly on the southern elevation and upper tower levels, coupled with offices on the northern elevation. The tower reads as a crystalline glass volume with openings for balconies to serve the apartments. For reasons of noise control (motorway and railway lines), the northern elevation is designed as a blank, unbroken façade with no balconies.
Herzog & de Meuron, 2008
Located on the end of the St. Jakob Park commercial, residential and sports complex, developed around the stadium of the local soccer team – whose design is partly by Herzog & de Meuron –, the St. Jakob Tower welcomes those who approach Basel by train or from the highway. This condition of ‘gateway building’ explains its desire to become a vertical landmark, set in contrast with the horizontal and topographic piece of the Mercedes-Benz showroom to the south, and which rounds off the intervention. The new Mercedes-Benz showroom slots easily into the urban terrain between the St. Jakob sports and events venue and the Birs riverscape. Designed as an open and transparent structure, its slabs form a continuous surface of three levels linked by ramps, which is also echoed in the folded roof of the building. Rising between the tower and the showroom, the elevated platform (6.10 m above the stadium perimeter level) is, like the existing facility, a key pedestrian circulation hub, a place to see and be seen, and in which it will also be possible to celebrate outdoor events. Located on the eastern front, looking towards the nearby town of Muttenz, this public space is modelled as an artificial topography marking off the sports and visitors’ facilities while also creating a smooth transition to the revitalized Birs riverside area. The tower’s massing responds to the particular features of the location, the occupancy types, the predominant visual axes and the shading situation. The building contains residential units, mainly on the southern elevation and upper tower levels, together with service-sector accommodation on the northern front. The 17-story tower reads as a crystalline glass volume fronted by layers of balconies serving the apartments. However, behind the strict line traced by the parapets of the terraces, the apartments have a glass facade of jagged geometry, generating recesses and projections that enhance and frame the views. For reasons of noise control (the motorway and railway lines are close by), the northern elevation is designed as a blank, unbroken facade. Constructively, the tower has a structural and services core in the center of its floor plan, as well as tilting steel columns around its perimeter. A sequence of reinforced concrete slabs completes the structure of the project.
