Basel: SBB launches redesign of Meret Oppenheim Square
In connection with the construction of the Meret Oppenheim high-rise building (MOH) on the south side of Basel's SBB train station, the adjacent Meret Oppenheim Square is also to be redesigned.
In order for the square to be able to fulfill its future role as a place to meet and stay, it will be fundamentally renovated and redesigned, SBB says. The existing small buildings and walls on the square will be removed to create a visual link between Güterstrasse and Meret-Oppenheim-Strasse.
Towards Güterstrasse, the square will remain open; on the opposite side, it will be closed off with trees towards Meret-Oppenheim-Strasse. Adjacent to this "green filter" will be the future central element of the square: a round fountain with a diameter of 19 meters. A reproduction of the sculpture "Spiral (the course of nature)" installed in the fountain, which Meret Oppenheim made as a model in 1976, is intended to commemorate the artist.
Westpol Landschaftsarchitektur, the office commissioned by SBB with the planning, presented the project at a media conference on October 28. SBB plans to submit the building application for the square in the next few days. The aim is to start work in summer 2017.
The costs for the upgrading and renewal of the square will be borne by the SBB, plus a contribution from the Canton of Basel-Stadt from the added value levy fund to this project, which was developed in close cooperation. To finance the fountain sculpture, SBB has submitted a funding application to the Swisslos fund. (ah)
