Biel: Project competition for Taubenloch development decided
Priora AG wants to build a residential complex with a hotel on the former wire works site in the Bözingen district of Biel. The "hoch hinaus" project by architects Ivo Sollberger and Lukas Bögli from Biel is to be realized.
In April of this year, the Biel City Council granted Priora AG the right to purchase the plot of land at the exit of the Taubenloch gorge. The project developer and general contractor wants to build a development with 74 apartments and an Ibis hotel there. For this purpose, a qualified project planning procedure was carried out, and twelve architectural firms were invited to participate in an anonymous project competition.
The project "hoch hinaus" by Sollberger Bögli Architects from Biel has now been recommended for further work and realization. The jury praised the project as a "consistent, self-confident and convincing proposal for a dense spatial program in an unusual environment between a rock face and the course of a river," according to Priora.
Two buildings - a tall residential tower in the northern part of the site and a lower hotel building parallel along the Schüss - house an Ibis-bleu hotel and a total of 74 apartments. The placement of the buildings creates a meeting zone, which will also serve as a tourist meeting point for the Taubenlochschlucht through a public use on the first floor. An underground parking garage for hotel guests, residential tenants and visitors is also planned.
