Tower House (Basel)
| Tower house | |
|---|---|
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| Basic data | |
| Place: | Basel |
| Construction time : | 1928-1929 |
| Status : | completed |
| Architectural style : | Modern |
| Architect : | Ernst Benedikt and Paul Vischer |
| Use / legal | |
| Usage : | Administration and rental buildings |
| Technical specifications | |
| Height to the top: | 31 m |
| Floors : | 8th |
| Building material : | Steel , reinforced concrete |
| address | |
| City: | Basel |
| Country: | Switzerland |
The tower house on Aeschenplatz in Basel is a 31 meter high residential and commercial building built between 1928 and 1929. The house designed by the architects Ernst Benedikt and Paul Vischer was commissioned by the Basler Lebensversicherunggesellschaft , which was also the owner of the building. Despite its relatively moderate height, the structure sparked a debate about high-rise construction in Basel at the time of its construction . Today it is considered an identity building on Aeschenplatz, even if it is considered a very low high-rise by current standards. In Switzerland, the association of cantonal building insurers defines High-rise buildings as buildings that have a total height of more than 30 meters.
history
Until the 1860s stood at the border between the original and the new city to the razing of the city walls , the Gate of Ashes. On the side out of town, outside the former fortification trench, there were various previous buildings on the site of today's tower house. These included the building of the Thoma brewery, formerly Samuel Merian, which attracted almost all parts of the population. In addition to concerts and performances in the courtyard and garden of the brewery, there was also an event hall for concerts, theater performances and balls. After the brewery building was demolished in 1910, the area remained unused for a long time. On the opposite side of the location of the tower house (No. 7/9) the architects Ernst Benedikt and Paul Vischer designed a building for the Basler Lebensversicherunggesellschaft. It was initially used by the insurance company, later by the Basel Stock Exchange and today as a school and office building. With the construction of the tower house, despite the low height by today's standards, a debate about high-rise construction was triggered. Apart from the towers of Basel Minster , the tallest building in downtown Basel was the town hall building with its 42.5 meter high tower. At that time it divided the citizenship into supporters and rejecters. However, the possibility of building high-rise buildings in Basel had already existed since 1918.
description
The tower house is on the southern edge of Aeschenplatz. The office building uses an irregular parcel. The angled, six-storey base house is on the corner of St.-Jakobs-Strasse.
An eight-story tower with a lantern and a cross-shaped flagpole grows out of the corner . The building is structurally 31 meters high. The facade to Aeschenplatz measures 28.6 meters, to St.-Jakobs-Strasse 17.5 meters. The top floor of the base house is set back slightly. There is a spacious terrace on the roof of the house .
On the ground floor, an open floor plan was intended for sale across the entire area, which encompassed two stairwells. To the southwest, the building is windowed and also illuminated by a skylight . The access to the inner courtyard is via St.-Jakobs-Strasse.
Reliefs with the Basel staff and the lettering Basler Lebensversicherungs-Gesellschaft carved in a circle around the symbol of the coat of arms decorate the bright, simple facade . The coat of arms and lettering are attached to both sides of the street of the tower. Among them is on the west facade of the tower tract in capital letters the word TOWER HOUSE mounted in metal letters. In addition to illuminated advertising signs, digital displays on both street-side facades show the date, time and temperature in rotating alternation.
literature
- Martina Desax, Dorette Paraventi-Gempp: Building in Basel. Architecture 1919–1939. Christoph Merian Verlag, Basel 2007, pp. 50–52.
- Thomas Bachmann, Anne Nagel, Franz Egger (editor): Skyscrapers for Basel - opportunities and problems . Voluntary Basel Monument Preservation, Basel 2016, pp. 11–12. ( here online )
Web links
Individual evidence
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↑ Definitions of the VKF high-rise concept in: Fire protection standard. ( Memento of April 6, 2010 in the Internet Archive ). In: VKF , as of October 20, 2008:
"Art. 12 f High-rise buildings: Buildings that are classified as high-rise buildings according to building legislation or the top floor of which is more than 22 m above the adjacent terrain serving the fire brigade or has an eaves height of more than 25 m. "
Fire protection directive. Terms and definitions. In: VKF , as of January 1, 2017, 10-15de, (PDF; 49 p., 1.8 MB), accessed on February 18, 2017:
"High-rise buildings: High-rise buildings are buildings that have a total height of more than 30 m. " - ↑ a b Desax, Paraventi-Gempp: Building in Basel. Architecture 1919–1939. P. 50
- ↑ Desax, Paraventi-Gempp: Building in Basel. Architecture 1919–1939. , P. 52.
Coordinates: 47 ° 33 '4.4 " N , 7 ° 35' 44.6" E ; CH1903: 611,825 / two hundred and sixty-six thousand seven hundred thirty-three