Follow your track_Nashed&Vandenbroucke
Our approach to the task of Beach Bank Basel started with a look at Basel and the Rhine. People of Basel love their riverbank and especially enjoy it as a meeting place.
We asked ourselves: what can we offer more? The site that was given is located at the upper end of Basel and is extending on 1.5 km which is very large comparing with the size of the city of Basel itself. So what we can provide to the City of Basel is a large recreational area with various spaces, atmospheres and moments throughout the four seasons.
We decided that our project should be a continuity of Basel’s riverbank, ending at the monument of the Dreiländereck. To reach this theme of continuity of Basel’s riverbank we used different elements. One element, that can be found, is the prominent stone embankment wall which creates the base of our project.
The other important element is combined with the former harbour function of this area: Former railtracks and our interpretation of railtracks run over the whole site and create pathways for pedestrians and bicycles. The visitor needs to choose his track, which then lead to places such as a beach, the Dreiländereck market place or the new residential area.
Another element that leads the visitor to the tip of Basel, the monument of the Dreiländereck is, as we call it, a “green stripe”. A volume of trees creating at some points a dense forest, at others an alley and at the end a looser composition allowing to look through.
The topography is influenced by those elements. Some areas like the tip of the island are flat places where you can enjoy a good view over Basel, the beach and the event place. Other places create an interesting tension such as the contrast between the dense forest and the high buildings of the new residential area with its big open plaza in front, which is at a higher level, overlooking the Rhine.
The site is defined by two sides: one which is more natural, in opposition to the constructed atmosphere. Those quite linear sides are then crossed by a car and tram bridge connecting Basel with the French side. The bridge is integrated into a former harbour building, giving the feeling of entering a ferry on Basel’s side and forcing the cars to slow down. The circulation on the islands is thought for both pedestrians and bicycles.
The project “follow your track” leads its visitors to the tip of Switzerland, creating lots of new meeting places for Basel’s citizens.
Klypool Basel_Baumann_Pegolo
To find a new topography for the Klybeck Island we started to form a small bay to play with the outline of the island. We developed this small bay during the semester into a larger river pool which interacts with the whole context.
Thanks of the tide the new river arm changes from a filled up pool to a canal.
We realized that if you want to swim in the Rhine in Basel, you have to swim with the river current. We saw a big benefit of creating a river pool which creates a slower water body during the summertime.
With our designed beach bank we want to integrate that river pool with the city.
To regulate the water flow, the opening to the new Rhine arm is small, 90 degree angled and higher than the Rhine floor. With a weir at the end of the river pool we control the water movement. In order to create the island we use the existing hard edge towards the Rhine and to support the tip of the island we shaped a hard nose.
For swimmers who swim up the Rhine we create a last exit-area with steps to allow the swimmers to get out of the Rhine easily. The exit-area is connected to the beach and the already existing infrastructure offers space for leisure activities and for example changing rooms etc.
We form two long poolside’s, one on the Klybeck Island and one next to the existing Klybeck city to have several possibilities to get to the water.
The banksides are open park spaces, with irregularly planted pines. This area creates free space for leisure activities and place for recreation.
Around the banksides we create a flexible belt with different urban squares which connects the park with the new urban city zone of Klybeck.
The surrounding of this new built river zone is planed as a dense urban zone. A new Bridge on the north top of the Klybeck Island allows walkers to get on the island. In addition it’s a link between the two urban islands. The southern tip of the island is free of bridges to assure the atmosphere of an island
Next to the industrial part of Klybeck, we plan an attractive outgoing zone for the people of Basel with restaurants and cultural offers.
Between the new designed river bank and the existing city we used the old train tracks to create a new leisure area. The in-betweens of the train-tracks are filled up with different materials, so that this long strip creates a perfect place for walkers, inline skaters, bikers, runners and other sport activities.
Old wagons offer also changing rooms and showers for the lake swimmers.
We try to integrate several existing infrastructure in our design and organize the utilization in a new way.
Greenhattan_Graber&Horber
The fact of the existance of an ancient Klybeck island motivated us to create a green islet, which stands out as a landmark for the neighbourhood. Therefore, the main concept is about building two very dense and very different islands, one filled with a wood, the other with buildings. The confrontation of culture and nature provocates a tension, wich is perceivable on the generous recreation space in between, lining up around the green core oft he site.
Because of the smaller shape of the park-island there is the possibility to extend the existing city to the border of the new Rhine canal with a new layer of a dense neighbourhood. The combination of the sloping topography and some new buildings next to the big square should work as a clear border in order to seperate itself to the artificial hill on the other side of the square. The small hill works like the starting point of the city-island with an important public function. As a result of these interventions the topography should be read as a combination of two different islands, which are clearly defined in their way of use.
The alignement of the new promenade next to the bank is an important point in the project. The main path should work as one smooth line in order to cross the whole area in a logical way. The two main recreation spaces divide the promenade in two, so that the port in the north has its own access to the banks of basel in the south. This promenades serve different levels and give view to some points of attraction, for example an old oiltank or the former terminal hall, wich is now the center of the northern square and is used for concerts ect. The place to take a bath on the city-side is meant to be an urban situation. Instead of a ‘traditional beach’ there is a hard boarder to the water on the side of the city to provide an urban relationship to the water. Next to the Promenade there is always the possibility to step down to more intimate spaces on the bank.
In contrast to the ‘urban beach’ on the city-side, the island has a traditional beach on the northern part.
The city itself is very much copied and adapted from the given structure. Looking for more acceptance, our buildings are similar in height and density tot he neighbourhood. The buildings on the main land are made as blocks with defined courtyards, but can also be read as continous row of houses, emphasizing the linearity and strength oft he site.
Ont the city island the area is cleary divided in a back and a front, whereas in the east it gonna be worked and in the west there is supposed to live.
Klybank hill – a sculpted boardwalk_Brenni_Imhof
Contemporary cities need special spaces dedicated to trends. If one thinks about this necessity happening on the same site of an important logistical and cultural places such as the Basel area of Klybeck, one could really both imagine and achieve heterotopic spaces for the city. Notion of intimacy, sculpting and topographical linear layering were for us main ideas of a spacial articulation after the first site visit.
The idea of a hill as a counterpart for the city aims to achieve a balance with the artificial displacement of material (coming from the canal digging), and a cultural attractive view point for the layered landscape that slopes down on to the other side towards the intimate riverfront. Furthermore it has the dimensions to house infrastructure such as cafés, changing cabins and showers. The topographical orientation of the purposed landscape follows the linearity and the layered space of the existing site.
The proposed hill stretches north-south and steeply slopes towards a new Rhine arm, which cuts it longitudinally creating two different articulated spaces in the section. The shifting of the hill sides creates a displacement in the topography, which confers it its diagonal layout. As a consequence of this the hill is constantly cut by paths and river boardwalks in order for people to access the most intimate spaces. The “sculpting” together with the shifting gives the topography of the hill its main shape and creates a city space, whom threshold is the diagonal.
The slope towards the more intimate space of the of the new Rhine arm opens up to a constructed edge along the whole length of the boardwalk. The canal edge is organised in a flowing sequence of linear spaces articulated by different materials defining different activities: a walking promenade, a boardwalk on to sit on and sunbath and a more wild experience on the island park side.
The site is framed both north and south from two piazze, however of a very different character. The south one acts as an end to the promenade along the Rhine coming from the inner city and as a point from which one can grasp the whole site with the hill. This piazza is set in dialog with the hard stepped pointy edge of the island and slopes down to a large beach that continues along the riverside flowing in the next layers. A catwalk bridge connects the piazza to the Novartis Campus on the other side of the Rhine. The north piazza acts as a retaining element to the shifted topography and as a threshold to the new city on one side and the Klybeck area on the other side.
The planting plan includes various trees that are to find on the Klybeck site of Basel such as populous tremula, populous nigra and tilia cordata. The trees are organised as clusters, single and double rows and finally as single elements depending on their position. By this one can experience both canopy like spaces and single shaded restoring spaces. The whole ensemble results in an extremely dynamic layered articulation of space and aims to express its physical and poetic properties.
Klybeckmatte_Küttel&Stucki
A new hill builds the centre of the park and gives the visitor a wide overview and let him see the border triangle, the Klybeck accommodation and the Novartis campus on the west side of the Rhein river, in a perspective he never seen before.
The hill is built out of the excavated material from the new Rhein-arm and overlies three public halls. To the Kybeck-side he flows down in the new Rhein-arm, where he is rising up again into the smooth beach and ends in the old train track area. This part of the project stays topographically untouched and is reused by movable coaches, which contain different uses, such as takeaways, flowerbeds or changing cabins. These layers of tracks and the new-planted tree lines generate a soft threshold to the existing city.
A boulevard breaks through the new city on the island and connects the two ends with a tree line. The strictness runs out on both sides into calm arranged trees.
The topography of the hill influences the whole island. The boulevard is an extension of the hill and flows down at both sides to the old site level. This new height from the boulevard creates different spaces and leads to a separation of people and cars.
The Island is connected by ferry on the Rhein side and by tram on the Klybeck side. The new international bridge connects the two neighbours and includes a subterranean car entrance for the island.
The Klybeck accommodation receives a large public extension and is finally directly connected to the Rhein.
Visualisation and planting workshop
To introduce the third and final phase of the semester, the students participated to a workshop on visualisation. The goal of this introduction is to simulate perspectives that will communicate both ambiances and dimensions of the designed space. Each group defined the perspectives that describe best their project, including one overview, two detail views and one section perspective.
Midterm Review_Stripes ‘n’ Slopes_ Altermatt&Maag
Strolling along the Rhine bank in Basel you often find the idea of a large, upper promenade accompanied by a smaller path close to the water level. This local typology we wanted to integrate in our new landscape design. Due to these different layers in height we can play with the various water levels throughout the year. During the high water level you are only centimeters above the water, while in the cold seasons with the lower water level you get more distance to it.
The landscape is structured in stripes following the flow of the Rhine, so while circulating on the main paths of the island, it is always possible to see the water areas. The border edges of each stripe are shaped as a bench and give the opportunity to have a rest there. Arranged side by side the stripes alternate in material and function. With the sloping topography over the whole island, various zones are created in different dimensions and levels of privacy. The vegetation emphasizes this longitudinal direction and divides these zones further into smaller specific areas.
The shape of the island is built up by a hard edge facing the Rhine and with a soft edge merging into the new river arm. Its river bed is going to be sloped down towards the Wiese to get a cushion like effect, which calms down the waterstream on the beachzone. A weir is placed near the end of the new river arm where it connects with the Wiese.
The buildings in the city part align themselves to the stripes going all the way over both islands, creating multiple new public open spaces.
The old silos are preserved while the walls will be removed and filled with new functions like showers, changing rooms and a café on the ground level and sitting platforms on the higher levels.
Midterm Review_Klybeckmatte_Küttel&Stucki
A hill in the center of the park gives the visitor a wide view over the border triangle, the Klybeck accommodation and the Novartis campus on the west side of the river. The hill will be built out of the excavated material from the new Rhein-arm, it houses a concert hall, that can be uses for many different activities. On the east side of the new Rhein-arm, the beach faces the wildly planted area of the hill, which is an integral nature reserve. Next to the beach the train tracks remain and are reused with movable coaches, which contain takeaways, flowerbeds or garden plots.
The Island is connected by ferry on the Rhein side and by tram on the Klybeck side. Around the hill there is a connecting boulevard that converges again when entering the new city part and leading to the border triangle. The boulevard in the city is a little higher and is the roof of a connecting parking lot, which can be entered through the new car bridge.
Midterm Review_Basel Bay_Nashed&Vandenbroucke
In the former harbor zone of Klybeck in Basel a new recreational area provides to the City of Basel various spaces, atmospheres and moments throughout the four seasons.
Through the reorganization and reallocation of Basels harbor a big area opposite the Klybeck neighborhood is left to be used in a new way. While designing a place for leisure, we need to consider that the previous function of this area and the proximity to the new harbor still makes a big impact. Also there will still be an important shipping traffic passing the site at the Rhine.
To create a place where one can enjoy Basels river bank and have a rest, the recreational area is introverted, embraced by stonewalls. The project is defined by those two sides: one which is more natural, in opposition to the constructed atmosphere. Besides, stairs and ramps help to design the different spaces. The beach forms a small bay giving an identity to this edge of Basel.
As an interweaving element joining the different parts together, two promenades, coming from the city center, cross the whole site and continue even further.