Market hall Basel

Market hall from the outside

Market hall from the inside

The Markthalle Basel (also called "Grossmarkthalle") is a building erected in Basel in 1929 , which was used for market operations until 2004. After several years of vacancy, renovation and the opening of various specialist shops followed. Today the market hall serves primarily as a place for cultural events (e.g. flea markets, cooking courses, public tours, concerts, comedy nights) and as a place to eat with street food stalls from all over the world.

construction

The shell vault of the octagonal dome was a further development of the dome construction of the Leipzig wholesale market hall . With a span of 60 meters, it has a thickness of eight centimeters, is 27 m, according to other information 28 m, high and has the shape of cycloids . The design of the market hall in Basel comes from the engineer Adolf Goenner , who died in 1929 before the building was completed, and his partner, the architect Hans Ryhiner , who then directed the completion of the building. The construction was carried out by Züblin AG according to plans and calculations by Hubert Rüsch of Dyckerhoff & Widmann AG. At the time of its opening, the market hall was the third largest reinforced concrete dome building in the world. The facility is now a listed building. The market hall served as a transshipment point until 2004 and was closed due to changed distribution channels.

History since the end of the wholesale market

The Basel Zoo proposed in 2006 to set up in the covered market, a "polarium" where penguins and others from the polar regions should be kept native animals. This concept won the broad support of the population, some politicians and also tourism promotion. However, the city of Basel sold the market hall to real estate investor Allreal AG , who converted and renovated the hall between 2009 and 2011 (Blaser Architects, Basel). Areas for fashion shops, restaurants, a mountain sports and a computer specialist shop have been created on two floors; Occasionally events take place under the dome. At the same time, a twelve-story tower with apartments was built right next to the market hall. Only the branches of Bächli Bergsport and digitec received a lot of visitors, while the shops geared towards high-priced fashion complained about a lack of visitors.

In 2011, the hall became the property of CSA Real Estate Switzerland, a subsidiary of the Credit Suisse Investment Foundation. With a new concept, including the establishment of market stalls and restaurants, a team led by the Basel architect Barbara Buser, who specializes in conversions, has been trying since October 2013 to restore the market hall to its original function as a marketplace and meeting place. The newly founded Markthallen AG Basel serves as the operator. On August 1, 2016, Edith Maryon AG, a subsidiary of the non-profit Edith Maryon Foundation from Basel, acquired the market hall including the basement and ancillary buildings (but without the new tower) in order to withdraw it from property speculation and to preserve it as a public cultural venue. The market hall is operated by Markthallen AG Basel. She has been the tenant of the dome and its fixtures since mid-2013 and coordinates everything, issues permits for participation in the market, rents rooms and washes the dishes. Markthallen AG Basel directly manages the market office, the cultural and special market program, the setting and furnishing of the hall, company and private events, the house bar, the dishwashing line and cleaning. Stands, food trucks, shops, production rooms and the other bars are sublet by partners of Markthallen AG Basel.

Since May 2019, the market hall has also been organizing and curating the kitchen caravan at various locations in the city of Basel. A changing number of food trucks (which the market hall does not operate itself, but selects) are located at different locations in Basel.

literature

Thomas Lutz: New content for an urban landmark of modernism: the renewed building ensemble of the market hall, Viaduktstrasse, Innere Margarethenstrasse, Steinentorberg . In: Kantonale Denkmalpflege Basel-Stadt (ed.): Annual report, Basel 2011, pp. 50–51.
Dominik Weiss, Tomaž Ulaga: On toothpicks . In: tec21 , vol. 136, no. 35, 2010, pp. 38-42.
Gustav Adolf Wanner : 50 years of the market hall 1929 - 1979 . Markthallen AG, Basel 1979.
Günter Günschel: Great design engineers 1 Freyssinet, Maillart, Dischinger, Finsterwalder. Ullstein, Berlin 1966.
Josef Braun et al .: Memorandum on the occasion of the completion and inauguration of the Gross-Markthalle Basel . CJ Wunderlin, Basel 1929.