Selection of the winning project

The jury selected ‘Resonance’ as the winning project from 161 submissions. Three architects and one artist – Marcel Arndt, Tim Berresheim, Wiebke Schlüter and Wolfgang Zeh – proposed a sound installation. The building becomes an echo chamber of ideas by listening to the reservoir and its visitors and amplifying these encounters. The sensitive treatment of the building and the theme of transformation through sound fit perfectly into the context of the Basel 2024 Architecture Week. The Open Call and the intervention with its accompanying events are supported by the Christoph Merian Foundation.

Further information on the winning project and the jury report will follow in July.

Selection for the Second Round

It really wasn’t easy to select the teams for the second round from the 161 submissions to our open call. We would like to thank everyone who took part for their exciting contributions!

Our jury has selected the following 4 teams for the 2nd round to shape a new narrative for the RESERVOIR!:

Anguilla Park
Yuri Pattison (@yuripattison); Stiller Projects (@stiller.pro): Dominik Arni

Myzelresevoir
Studio Cinderella (@studio__cinderella): Clemens Hoyer, Max Nohé; Laura Schürer; Franziska Schäfer; Jens Bluhm; Advisory: Prof. Katharina Immekus

Resonanz
rāumen: Marcel Arndt; SNA: Tim Berresheim; SWSTUDIO (@swstudio.eu): Wiebke Schlüter; Wolfgang Zeh (@zeh.wolfgang)

Underground Solar Hot Spring
Zeroth (@zeroth_ooo): Octave Perrault; Cookies (@c00kiesl0l): Clément Périssé

Jury
Prof. Friederike Kluge, architect (Alma Maki), lecturer FHNW, jury presidium
Mohamed Almusbli, curator, Director Kunsthalle Basel
Dr. Zainabu Jallo, Playwright, researcher and lecturer in anthropology
Lukas Ryffel, architect (8000 Agency), half-biologist
Matthias Sigrist, Development Project Leader, Christoph Merian Foundation

Open Call AWB’24
Application deadline: March 22, 2024, 5:59pm CET

Join the second edition of Architekturwoche Basel happening from September 7–14, 2024, titled Spatial Affairs.

In 2022, Basel’s architecture biennial challenged designers to craft a building solely from reused materials. Now, in our second installment, we delve into the impact of the built environment on the climate crisis again for obvious reasons, posing in this open call the broader question about transformation: How do we infuse the existing with new purpose? Can we adapt what’s already there with minimal effort and energy, breathing contemporary life into structures that have lost their original intent?

Our focus on the planetary crisis resonates through the lens of the local context—engaging spatially, experimenting, and seeking questions and answers with tangible impact. The canvas for this exploration is a hidden infrastructure at Dreispitz in Basel, we named the RESERVOIR, which, despite having partially lost its original purpose, remains culturally and functionally tied to the area’s history.

During the end of summer 2024, the RESERVOIR will serve as an imaginative space for discussion, exhibition, and a laboratory for ideas and experiments. This open call invites visionary minds from various disciplines, extending beyond architects to include teams and individuals in transversal fields. We invite you to submit your creative visions for the adaptation of the RESERVOIR—whether spatial, display-related, or proposing new uses—to breathe life into this space during AWB’24.

Existing
The RESERVOIR, situated as a multi-story car park in Dreispitz, holds a Basel history. Originally constructed as a reaction to the Schweizerhalle fires of 1986, it stands as a contemporary witness to Basel’s recent past. The basins of the RESERVOIR were initially designed to collect contaminated extinguishing water from Dreispitz, emphasizing the awareness of massive chemical fires and their connection to the waterways in the city. Despite losing their original purpose, these basins, along with a circular void formed by the access ramp, remain part of the car park’s structure.

Intervention
In September 2024, during AWB’24, spatial, cultural, and social interventions will co-exist with the RESERVOIR’s everyday users. This open call encourages architects and planners and also artists, cultural workers, collectives, and socially active groups to imagine interdisciplinary projects. We seek ideas that can bring short-term realization while embodying a long-term vision, either addressing specific spatial elements, functional peculiarities, new uses, or social interactions.

Who and when
We invite innovative minds—engineers, architects, designers, artists, scientists, economists, and more, both Swiss and international—to contribute to this transformative project.
The deadline for the open call is March 22, 2024, 5:59pm CET. Successful candidates will be informed by April 11, 2024. The selected teams will participate in a competition, with the intervention opening in September 2024 alongside the inauguration of AWB’24.

How to apply
To apply, submit basic information about your team members and a short CV/profile, along with your project title and an A3 PDF file presenting your idea.

Let’s explore the potential of existing structures and hidden infrastructures for a future that embraces creativity, sustainability, and adaptability. Email your submissions to reservoir@architekturwochebasel.ch.

All details on the open call to be found here: AWB24-reservoir-open_call-material.zip

 

Join us in shaping a new narrative for the RESERVOIR!

Architekturwoche Basel: Anneke Abhelakh, Wolfgang Hockenjos
in collaboration with
Malheur&Fortuna GmbH: Noël Picco, Lukas Stadelmann
Video: Sarah Basar Santamaria
With the support of Christoph Merian Foundation