Basel: Canton plans 100 apartments with "re-use" method

The Walkeweg site is one of the canton's larger development areas and is located in the immediate vicinity of the Dreispitz, Wolf and Irène Zurkinden-Platz sites. Here, as part of the 1000+ housing program, affordable apartments for around 650 people, natural areas and an elementary school including a kindergarten are being built. In a first step, two cooperatives have taken over part of the site in building rights and will build around 150 new apartments by 2025. (IB reported). In a second stage, the canton will build approximately 120 affordable apartments and an integrated migration center with an additional 44 apartments in its own investment by 2026. The canton held an open project competition, which was won by the planning team Parabase, Monotti Ingegneri Consulenti SA and USUS Landscape Architecture. According to the jury report, the winning project impressed with its aesthetics and the consistent use of reused building components.

The residential buildings, which have a maximum of four stories, are heated without fossil fuels, and the required electricity is largely generated by the company's own photovoltaic system. In addition, however, "gray energy" is also to be saved: Both as the supporting structure of the buildings and for the design of the facade, the winning project uses concrete elements from the deconstruction of the Lysbüchel parking garage. According to a media release from the Canton of Basel, this method, known as "re-use," has never before been used in an architectural competition of this magnitude in Switzerland. (aw)