In the development area VoltaNord Basel near the border to France, a quarter with up to 2,500 workplaces and living space for approx. 1,500 – 2,000 inhabitants is to be built on the current industrial and wasteland Lysbüchel site. The future residential and service buildings on site 2, which form the transition between the industrial and residential areas, were the subject of architectural competitions. For their design “Pila de Volta“, the team of Donet Schäfer Reimer Architects was awarded 1st place in the “Building 2.3″ procedure. The winning team also included the façade designers from Lüchinger+Meyer.
The name of the design is more than just a play on words. Volta’s column”, the most important invention for generating electricity in the 19th century and the forerunner of today’s batteries, used a stack of different elements. Taking up this idea, the competition project also envisages a stacking of different residential units – with the declared aim of generating a “lively neighbourhood”.
The jury recognises great potential in the design “not only to further stimulate and enrich the new VoltaNord quarter, but also to radiate beyond it as an innovative impetus for sustainable and low-cost housing construction.” Under enormously challenging conditions, the authors succeed in “overlaying countless specifications and factors into a convincing architectural project”. In particular, the concepts with regard to sustainability are positively highlighted. This is taken into account “on the most diverse levels, for example with the promotion of biodiversity […], with various measures for the targeted CO2 neutrality, but also with intelligent contributions to climate-friendly construction, to summer heat protection or to the circular economy. They are all convincing in this respect, as are the already advanced considerations of hybrid material selection, building methods and construction.”