Seven architectural firms from Basel and Zurich, in cooperation with the Department of Construction and Transport of the Canton of Basel-Stadt, were invited to take part in an anonymous project competition for the planned “Rosentalturm”, which will replace the Messe Basel multi-storey parking lot with neighborhood-serving uses, apartments and offices. At the end of December last year, the jury, consisting of various national experts, unanimously selected the “Rooseli” project by Herzog & de Meuron as the winner. The winning project will be presented in the presence of the architects at a vernissage in the MCH Lounge of Messe Basel on Friday, March 24.
In addition to Herzog & de Meuron’s winning project, all competition entries will be on display in an exhibition: from March 27 to April 6, 2023, all entries can be viewed daily from 3 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. in Messe Basel’s MCH Lounge. An information event on the Rosentalturm will also be held on Monday, April 3, 2023, at 6.30 pm. At the public event, the winning project will be presented to local residents and all interested parties. Afterwards, the project design will be discussed with the participants and suggestions for further project work can be made.
The winning project “Rooseli” by Herzog & de Meuron consists of three buildings: the tower directly at the Messeplatz, the lower longitudinal building along Riehenstrasse and a pavilion that occupies the newly created public open space between the tower and the longitudinal building. The tower takes up the urban scale of the surrounding high-rise buildings and the exhibition hall, while the five-story longitudinal building and its two recessed roof stories enter into a mediating dialogue with the perimeter block development on Riehenstrasse.
The new public green space located within the project perimeter extends the current Rosentalanlage by a loosely planted grove of trees. The park, which has been shrinking over many decades, will be enlarged and will allow for new path connections. With its low longitudinal structure, the project successfully mediates between the large-scale exhibition buildings and the smaller-scale neighborhood development.
In addition to around 4,500 m2 of public and semi-public commercial space on the square and street level as well as the floors directly above, the project is characterized by a diverse residential mix (2.0 to 5.5 room apartments as well as communal living) with a total of around 350 apartments. Of these, around 100 apartments are planned in the affordable segment. This will create living space for a wide range of needs.
The project meets high standards in terms of density of use, energy and resources. Important criteria here are a low environmental impact from construction and operation, a substantial contribution to urban heat reduction, biodiversity and species diversity, as well as a high level of comfort and a healthy indoor climate.
Messe Basel, together with the life science industry sites and the densification around Badischer Bahnhof, already forms an important sub-center within the city of Basel. The Rosentalturm project aims to strengthen the interconnectedness of the neighborhood with its residential spaces, local businesses, and surrounding green spaces with a particular focus on social and environmental sustainability.
The “Rooseli” project by Herzog & de Meuron will be further developed for construction submission from the first quarter of 2023 with the aim of starting the implementation of the project in 2024.
The development, financing and realisation of the Rosentalturm project will be carried out in a cooperation between MCH Group and the real estate service provider HRS Real Estate AG. On behalf of MCH Group, HRS was already responsible as a total contractor for the realisation of Hall 1, which went into operation in 2013, and for the Rosentalturm project it is responsible for the overall management of the further project development, the search for and selection of investors, and the realisation and marketing of the project.
