HOUSING IN BASEL

The project occupies a long industrial peninsula in the edge. A linear housing structure runs along the site, generating a sequence of public niches between the towers and the water, each with its own character. What is now closed and infrastructural becomes walkable. The alignment of the towers is calibrated to frame specific directions of view, toward the historic fishermen’s settlement on the Rhine, toward the city, toward the open water, and toward the exact point where Switzerland, France and Germany meet at the tip of the site. Structurally, each tower stands on a single concrete core, and the inhabited plates are hung from that core with tension elements, allowing the ground level to remain almost completely free. This creates a continuous public park that passes underneath the housing. The towers work in balance with one another, and even with only one point of support per tower, the system is capable of transferring loads safely to the ground.