After four years of construction work by Herzog & de Meuron, the Stadtcasino Basel is almost ready to reopen.
 
Exactly seven years ago, on 17 June 2013, Casino-Gesellschaft Basel presented the project study "Expansion of Stadtcasino Basel" together with Herzog & de Meuron. After four years of construction and renovation, the same protagonists today presented the concert house, which now shines in new splendour.

In the past, the Stadtcasino Basel has already experienced several new buildings, conversions and extensions. However, these extensions proved to be inadequate and have now been replaced by a generous extension.
The magnificent building has thus not only been refreshed behind its neo-baroque front by Herzog & de Meuron. The latter itself became part of an architectural coup by being preserved and rebuilt at the same time. The Stadtcasino Basel was also decoupled from the head building.

Thanks to the newly created Konzertgasse, it now faces both the former cultural mile of the Steinenberg and Barfüsserplatz. Now it stands confidently on the square and appears next to the mighty Barfüsser Church as an equivalent building.

More space, more comfort

Cautiously extended from the outside and almost simply, the Stadtcasino Basel has a few surprises inside. Herzog & de Meuron have succeeded in combining neo-baroque, classicist and contemporary elements to create a new type of architecture.

In addition to the architectural highlights, both the public and the artists can enjoy more space and more comfort. Inviting foyers, opulent staircases and a new ventilation system make for a stay that is as impressive as it is pleasant.

Musiksaal remains the heart of the building

The Musiksaal and the Hans Huber-Saal, both listed buildings, were renovated with great care in consultation with the Historic Preservation Society. For example, the Musiksaal was restored to its optical condition of 1905. The Musiksaal of the Stadtcasino Basel is one of the oldest and most important concert halls in the world. Thanks to its incomparable acoustics, it occupies one of the top positions in the world. To ensure that this remains so, the Casino-Gesellschaft Basel has engaged specialists for room acoustics from Munich to accompany the reconstruction.

While acoustically preserving and maintaining the historical building fabric, the Musiksaal has received, among other things, a new floating wooden floor with integrated air supply system, as well as a new podium. The historic windows were uncovered and the hall seating was renewed. The tests carried out so far have shown that the excellent room acoustic quality of the music hall has been maintained. Both the room sound and other room acoustic criteria meet the highest musical demands.

Pride and anticipation

Casino-Gesellschaft Basel is proud of the new, expanded Stadtcasino Basel. Basel will once again have a concert hall which, thanks to the outstanding architecture by Herzog & de Meuron, will develop a special radiance and attraction. The anticipation of the forthcoming 2020/21 concert season is great, despite the restrictions imposed by Corona.

Stadtcasino Basel

The owner and supporting association is Casino-Gesellschaft Basel, a non-profit association founded in 1824. Its purpose is to serve the cultural and, in particular, the musical endeavours in Basel with the means at its disposal. With the Stadtcasino Basel, it offers halls and other services at the most favourable conditions possible in order to provide artists and event organisers with an affordable platform for their work.
 

Project description by Herzog & de Meuron

Herzog & de Meuron's extension of the 19th century Stadtcasino Basel is now complete. Starting with an urban study in 2012, the project vision is based on interconnected strategies including restoration, preservation and new construction. The result is not simply a building, but the creation of a new public space in the historical context of the Barfüsserplatz.

The core component of the project—the Stehlin Musiksaal of 1876—is one of the oldest and most important concert halls in Europe, known internationally for its exceptional acoustics and refined listening experience. Originally conceived as a palazzo, it is uncoupled from the Casino of 1939 and treated as an autonomous building. This separation reinstates a lane between the buildings, forming a direct connection between Steinenberg and Barfüsserplatz.

The new extension, accommodating foyers, bars, dressing rooms and service facilities, emerges from the old as if it has always been there; at first sight it appears to be in the same neo-Baroque architectural tradition, yet the solid masonry of the historical façade has been reconstructed to the original scale with digital technologies in a contemporary cladding of wood.

The Stadtcasino is now complete, bringing together neo-Baroque and contemporary elements to create a new type of architecture in this key location at the centre of Basel, ready to host public concerts again in the coming months.

The Rise of the Cultural Mile in the 19th Century and its Urban Demise in the 20th Century
In the course of the 19th century, the town fortifications and the adjoining buildings of the former Barfüsser and St. Magdalen Convents were demolished, making room for what we would nowadays call a Cultural Mile along the southern fringe of Basel's Old Town. These developments reflect the urban and architectural vision of those times.
 
The Casino (1826) and the Blömlein Theater (1831), based on plans by Melchior Berri, were followed in the second half of the 19th century by several important buildings designed in the neo-Baroque style by Johann Jakob Stehlin. Situated between Barfüsserplatz and St. Alban-Graben, they included the Kunsthalle (1872), the Stadttheater (1875), the Musiksaal (1876), the Steinenschulhaus (1877), and the Skulpturenhalle (1887).
 
In 1939, the old casino was demolished to make way for a new one, designed by architects Kehlstadt & Brodtbeck, and when the old Stadttheater was torn down in 1975, the resulting gap created a plaza for the new Theater, thus definitively heralding the end of the former Cultural Mile. Of the original buildings, only the Kunsthalle, the Skulpturenhalle, and the Musiksaal have survived.
 
Project of 2007, Defeated in a Plebiscite

A new building project designed to replace the 1939 Casino was defeated in a plebiscite of 2007. The project by Zaha Hadid had won first prize in an architectural competition but was rejected by the people, primarily because of its heavy massing. A few years later, in 2012, we were commissioned to conduct an urban study to determine how the limited and qualitatively inadequate space could be reorganized to accommodate ancillary facilities for the historical Musiksaal of 1876. The first phase of these efforts focused on the Musiksaal, one of the oldest, most important concert halls in Europe. It is the resident concert hall of the Basel Symphony Orchestra and also hosts concerts by the renowned Basel Chamber Orchestra and Basel Sinfonietta. With seating for 1400 people, it is internationally acclaimed for its exceptional acoustics. When the hall was built in 1876, service facilities were severely curtailed due to budget constraints. This issue was partially resolved in 1939 by tacking extensions onto the structure. Given these profound changes over the past 80 years, it is impossible for the outdated, cramped facilities to meet the needs of a contemporary concert hall. The survival of this invaluable venue for music necessitated urgent structural renovation and repairs as well as indispensable expansion to accommodate a spacious lobby, backstage facilities for performers, and other technical services.
 
The Extension

We explored a number of possibilities and variations for generating more space to house the additional facilities required for the Musiksaal. We focused on the area between the Musiksaal and the Barfüsserkirche, where the cloisters had been built in the Middle Ages. The area had consequently been cleared for architectural modifications by the Department of Historic Preservation. Initially we proposed extensions to the building between the Barfüsserkirche and the Musiksaal in analogy to the former cloisters but soon jettisoned the idea on urban, architectural, and operational grounds. The Stehlin Musiksaal was brilliantly conceived as a palazzo and all attempts to add on to the building looked like ridiculous patchwork. Similar to the annex of 1939, the extension facing the church would have been perceived as being behind the building and thus inferior to the façade facing Steinenberg.
 
The only viable solution was to treat the Musiksaal as an autonomous building, uncoupled from the 1939 Casino.
 
A Palazzo
As an independent building, the Musiksaal obviously had to be bigger than the existing core building of 1876. It would have to grow out of the old building as if it had always been there. That is why it was so important to design the addition, accommodating foyers, service facilities, rehearsal rooms and dressing rooms, so that it appears, at least at first sight, to be in the same neo-Baroque architectural tradition. Our design is based on the rear façade of Stehlin's building, which had long been largely hidden behind the old extensions. With digital technologies we scanned the façade and we reconstructed it to original scale.
 
The solid masonry of the historical façade has given way to a façade of insulated, reinforced concrete with rear-ventilated cladding in keeping with contemporary building technology and climate control. We decided that wood would be the most suitable cladding and modified the geometry of the original façade just slightly to meet the structural requirements of that material.
 
When the Musiksaal was built in the 19th century, certain elements were made out of wood and then painted to match the design of the whole, like the seemingly massive cornice, which had been painted to look like the stone of the façade. The same applies to the columns inside, which had been constructed in wood or plaster because of the acoustics. They, too, were painted to look like stone.
 
The Lane
Separating the operations of the concert hall and the Stadtcasino also meant demolishing the former entrance area with its staircase. This allowed for a direct connection between Steinenberg and Barfüsserplatz, where carriages used to pull up, prior to the demolition of the Berri building in 1938 and the construction of the new Stadtcasino in 1939. Thus, the Musiksaal is now oriented both toward the former Steinenberg Cultural Mile and Barfüsserplatz; it is a clear-cut presence on Barfüsserplatz, sharing the space on equal footing with the imposing Barfüsserkirche. The area between the Church and the Musiksaal, once merely perceived as kind of rear courtyard, has become a new public space.
 
This volumetric recovery of urban space draws attention to other weaknesses. The 1939 Casino has always turned its back to the square, with a rear façade that looks like an apartment building. Furthermore, the 1980s design of Barfüsserplatz includes a tram stop that obstructs the square. The situation undoubtedly needs further consideration, especially as Barfüsserplatz is one of Basel's most important public spaces.
 
The Stehlin Musiksaal
The Musiksaal has been significantly modified several times since it was built in 1876, first in 1905 in conjunction with the Hans Huber Hall built by Fritz Stehlin, at which time an organ was built into the hall, stucco decoration applied to the ceiling, the busts of musicians placed against the walls, and the color scheme revamped. The second major refurbishment followed in 1939, when the old Casino was torn down to make room for the current building by architects Kehlstadt & Brodtbeck. A significant increase in the incline of the rear balcony provided access from the balcony to the newly erected building in between. Further adjustments in the years that followed include closing off the skylight and the windows, replacing the historical seating, redesigning the historical chandeliers, replacing the original parquet, and introducing an entirely new color scheme.
 
The current restoration of the concert hall has been carried out in close collaboration with the Cantonal Department of Cultural Heritage. The aim of restoring the building to its original state at the time it was first renovated in 1905 went hand-in-hand with the top priority of preserving the hall's acoustic properties. We opened up the skylight and the windows again, re-created the original seating, reduced the incline of the balcony, laid a duplicate of the original parquet flooring, and restored the color scheme of 1905.
 
The Foyers
The enlargement of the overall volume directly adjoining the concert hall generates space on several levels to accommodate foyers and bars as well as rehearsal rooms, dressing rooms and service facilities. The Hans Huber Saal will continue to host chamber music and is now accessed directly from the new foyers.
 
The new foyers flanking the concert hall are arranged on two levels, accessing the parquet and the balcony. We have exposed the façade facing the concert hall, mirroring it as a new outside wall. For the end walls, however, we use mirrors, a popular element of the 19th-century, making the hall more spacious in combination with the mirrored ceiling. The corners of the upper foyer are detached from the side walls, so that it seems to be a floating, elliptical panel. The two levels of the foyer, with a central hole, are thus perceived as a single space.
 
Outside, we focused on simulation in designing the extension of the Stadtcasino, while inside we celebrated the stylistic elements of the 19th-century by heightening the artificiality of form, material, and color.
 
The Staircases
Despite the urban constraints on the extension of the Stadtcasino, we wanted to provide as much space as possible for audiences. Therefore, in addition to the foyers, we added loggia-like recesses to the expansive staircases, where people can linger during intermissions.
 
We had the original brocade wallpaper reproduced by the Manufacture Prelle in Lyon. Founded in 1752, the company had already woven these wallpapers for the Opéra Garnier the year before the concert hall opened in 1876.
 
We worked out a custom-made design for the new parquet of the Casino. The lens-shaped geometry of the pattern echoes the wallpaper, while the parquetry is laid out left and right, following the grain of the wood in reference to the historical herringbone parquet of the concert hall.
 
Taking inspiration from the historical crystal chandeliers, we designed the "Parrucca" luminaire—modern LED lighting to line the staircases in the casino. The play of the light is multiplied by the silver of the hammered metal on the ceilings, which artificially heightens the room.
 
The Hans Huber Saal, the Rehearsal Rooms and the Dressing Rooms
Fritz Stehlin built the Hans Huber Saal for chamber music in 1905 to complement the concert hall. It has been largely restored to its original state in cooperation with the Department of Cultural Heritage. The musicians' foyer and the dressing rooms built along with the chamber music hall have been similarly restored. In addition to returning to the original color scheme, we referred to historical documents in order to reconstruct the paneling, windows, and doors that had been replaced in later renovations.
 
The existing dressing rooms of the Hans Huber Saal have been supplemented by new rooms on the top floor of the extension for the casino society. There are also three dormer windows that afford new views of Barfüsserplatz and the Barfüsserkirche and, on the other side, of the historical roof of the concert hall, thanks to the newly created courtyard.

Read more
Read less

More information

Label
Architects
Text
Herzog & de Meuron. Partners: Jacques Herzog, Pierre de Meuron, Andreas Fries (Partner in Charge).
+ + copy Created with Sketch.
- + copy Created with Sketch.
Label
Project team
Text
Thorsten Kemper (Associate, Project Manager), Michael Schmidt (Associate, Project Manager), Stephan Weber (Project Architect), Inga Federe (Project Architect). Roman Aebi (Workshop), Caetano Braga da Costa de Bragança, Alessia Catellani, Axel Chevroulet, Federica von Euw, Noël Fäh, Judith Funke, Joanna Karolina Gajda, Luis Gisler, Elena Klinnert, Oxana Krause, Sophia Landsherr, Marcin Ernest Mejsak, Yolanda de Rueda, Juan Sala, Eduardo Salgado Mordt, Günter Schwob (Workshop), Francisca Soares de Moura, Matthias Stauch, Florian Stroh, Ana Miruna Tutoveanu, Daniel Wilson.
+ + copy Created with Sketch.
- + copy Created with Sketch.
Label
Planning
Text
Project Architect: Herzog & de Meuron, Basel, Switzerland.
MEP Engineering: Waldhauser+Hermann AG, Münchenstein, Switzerland.
Structural Engineering: A. Aegerter & Dr. O. Bosshardt AG, Basel, Switzerland.
HVAC Engineering: Waldhauser+Hermann AG, Münchenstein, Switzerland.
Executive Architect: Ritter Giger Schmid Architekten SIA AG, Basel, Switzerland.
Electrical Engineering: Pro Engineering AG, Basel, Switzerland.
Plumbing Engineering: Suiselectra Ingenieurunternehmung AG, Basel, Switzerland.
Project Management: Glator AG, Birsfelden, Switzerland.
+ + copy Created with Sketch.
- + copy Created with Sketch.
Label
Specialist / Consulting
Text
Acoustic: Müller-BBM GmbH, Planegg; Germany.
Lighting: Reflexion AG, Zürich, Switzerland.
Facade: Buri Mueller Partner GmbH, Burgdorf, Switzerland.
Audio Visual: auviso audio visual solutions AG, Muttenz, Switzerland.
Facade: Pirmin Jung Ingenieure AG, Rain, Switzerland.
Fire Protection: Gruner AG Brandschutz, Basel, Switzerland.
Surveyor: A. Aegerter & Dr. O. Bosshardt AG, Basel, Switzerland.
Geotechnic: Geotechnisches Institut AG Basel, Basel, Switzerland.
+ + copy Created with Sketch.
- + copy Created with Sketch.
Label
Client
Text
Casino-Gesellschaft Basel, Switzerland.
+ + copy Created with Sketch.
- + copy Created with Sketch.
Label
Area
Text
Gross floor area (GFA) : 91,363 sqft / 8,488 sqm.
GFA above ground: 61,300 sqft / 5,695 sqm.
GFA below ground: 30,063 sqft / 2,793 sqm.
Number of levels: 7.
Footprint: 20,451 sqft / 1,900 sqm.
Building dimensions: Length: 180 ft / 55 m; Width: 118 ft / 36 m; Height: 72 ft / 22 m.
Gross volume (GV): 1,657,777 cbft / 46,943 cbm.
Facade surface: 29,062 sqft / 2,700 sqm.
+ + copy Created with Sketch.
- + copy Created with Sketch.
Label
Dates
Text
Project 2012-2016, realization 2016-2020.
+ + copy Created with Sketch.
- + copy Created with Sketch.
Label
Video
Text
Film by Aaron Markus Graf and Lukas Gruntz © 2020 Herzog & de Meuron.
+ + copy Created with Sketch.
- + copy Created with Sketch.
Label
Photography Fotografía
Text
Roman Weyeneth, Ruedi Walti.
+ + copy Created with Sketch.
- + copy Created with Sketch.

Herzog & de Meuron Architekten is a Swiss architecture firm, founded and headquartered in Basel, Switzerland in 1978. The careers of founders and senior partners Jacques Herzog (born 1950), and Pierre de Meuron (born 1950), closely paralleled one another, with both attending the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zürich. They are perhaps best known for their conversion of the giant Bankside Power Station in London to the new home of the Tate Museum of Modern Art (2000). Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron have been visiting professors at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design since 1994 (and in 1989) and professors at ETH Zürich since 1999. They are co-founders of the ETH Studio Basel – Contemporary City Institute, which started a research programme on processes of transformation in the urban domain.

Herzog & de Meuron is a partnership led by five Senior Partners – Jacques Herzog, Pierre de Meuron, Christine Binswanger, Ascan Mergenthaler and Stefan Marbach. An international team of 38 Associates and about 362 collaborators.

Herzog & de Meuron received international attention very early in their career with the Blue House in Oberwil, Switzerland (1980); the Stone House in Tavole, Italy (1988); and the Apartment Building along a Party Wall in Basel (1988).  The firm’s breakthrough project was the Ricola Storage Building in Laufen, Switzerland (1987).  Renown in the United States came with Dominus Winery in Yountville, California (1998). The Goetz Collection, a Gallery for a Private Collection of Modern Art in Munich (1992), stands at the beginning of a series of internationally acclaimed museum buildings such as the Küppersmühle Museum for the Grothe Collection in Duisburg, Germany (1999). Their most recognized buildings include Prada Aoyama in Tokyo, Japan (2003); Allianz Arena in Munich, Germany (2005); the new Cottbus Library for the BTU Cottbus, Germany (2005); the National Stadium Beijing, the Main Stadium for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China; VitraHaus, a building to present Vitra’s “Home Collection“, Weil am Rhein, Germany (2010); and 1111 Lincoln Road, a multi-storey mixed-use structure for parking, retail, a restaurant and a private residence in Miami Beach, Florida, USA (2010), the Actelion Business Center in Allschwil/Basel, Switzerland (2010). In recent years, Herzog & de Meuron have also completed projects such as the New Hall for Messe Basel Switzerland (2013), the Ricola Kräuterzentrum in Laufen (2014), which is the seventh building in a series of collaborations with Ricola, with whom Herzog & de Meuron began to work in the 1980s; and the Naturbad Riehen (2014), a public natural swimming pool. In April 2014, the practice completed its first project in Brazil: the Arena do Morro in the neighbourhood of Mãe Luiza, Natal, is the pioneering project within the wider urban proposal “A Vision for Mãe Luiza”.

Herzog & de Meuron have completed 6 projects since the beginning of 2015: a new mountain station including a restaurant on top of the Chäserrugg (2262 metres above sea level) in Toggenburg, Switzerland; Helsinki Dreispitz, a residential development and archive in Münchenstein/Basel, Switzerland; Asklepios 8 – an office building on the Novartis Campus in Basel, Switzerland; the Slow Food Pavilion for Expo 2015 in Milan, Italy; the new Bordeaux stadium, a 42’000 seat multifunctional stadium for Bordeaux, France; Miu Miu Aoyama, a 720 m² boutique for the Prada-owned brand located on Miyuki Street, across the road from Prada Aoyama, Tokyo, Japan.

In many projects the architects have worked together with artists, an eminent example of that practice being the collaboration with Rémy Zaugg, Thomas Ruff and with Michael Craig-Martin.

Professionally, the Herzog & de Meuron partnership has grown to become an office with over 120 people worldwide. In addition to their headquarters in Basel, they have offices in London, Munich and San Francisco. Herzog has explained, “We work in teams, but the teams are not permanent. We rearrange them as new projects begin. All of the work results from discussions between Pierre and me, as well as our other partners, Harry Gugger and Christine Binswanger. The work by various teams may involve many different talents to achieve the best results which is a final product called architecture by Herzog & de Meuron.”

Read more
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...