Remodelling of the Art Museum Basel and Laurenzbau

The expansion of the Kunstmuseum Basel into the neighbouring former bank proviides important improvements to the spatial organisation of the museum building, especially in the form of additional exhibition space. The buildings, comprised of the Kunstmuseum, constructed in 1936 by the architects Rudolf Christ and Paul Bonatz, and the Laurenzbau, the former Nationalbank by architects Sutter & Burckhardt in 1926, are to undergo partial structural modifications. However, further exhibition spaces for temporary expositions, such as those that were considered during the 2001 competition with the concept of a supplementary building to house them, should be avoided. The character and the extent of the various restructuring works are diverse and range from the creation of new spatial relations to the construction of original conditions, or also the light restorative 'touching up' or even restorative 'polishing' of surface and finishes. The reconstruction work will be carried out in various stages in order not to disrupt the function of the museum.
The Laurenzbau was adapted into a library during the first phase of construction (2004-05). The library's reading room has recently been relocated to the Laurenzbau's impressive former service hall with its mahogany wall panelling, stuccoed ceilings and great central roof light. In this hall the glazed swinging leaf door was reconstructed and the damaged stone floor was replaced with new acacie parquetry. The glazed roof light remains the room's chief source of natural light and now illuminates the reading tables positioned below it. The new furniture in the reading room consists on the one hand of standard metallic bookcases and on the other hand of purpose/built counters, tables and cases of dark, stained acacia. New light fixtures were placed on the bookcases to illuminate the books (directly) as well as the room (indirectly). The reading room chairs were produced in collaboration with Hannes Wettstein. With their green fabric covers they reflect to a certain degree and in terms of the colour the feeling of traditional library reading rooms.
In the second phase (2005-06) the museum building, especially the library rooms, were reconstructed as exhibition spaces and a bistro. The large vitrines, doors and windows of the arcades draw museum visitors and also restaurant clients. A generous staircase and ramp of grey sandstone rises from the red-grey veined sandstone flooring of the arcades and leads to the entrance of the new bistro. The narrow former library space now functions as the bistro's dining area. Sitting on the new elongated leather sofa, the guests can look through the glazed doors at the comings and goings in the great sculpture and entrance hall of the museum. In the adjoining bar, the bar itself, of shiny brass, forms the centre point. This material treatment produces a striking contrast to the dark brown, matt tones of the same material used for the windows and doors – this is equally true of this historic material as of the new.
A third phase (2006-07) incorporates the relocation of the shop and the renovation of the entrance hall, which will become the centre point for all visitor services. Freeing up the ground floor corridor around the small courtyard represents an important strategy in this reconstruction project. This corridor was historically an exhibition space, which over the years has been used as a cafe and cloakroom, neither benefiting the space nor the then cafe. This generous and well-lit corridor is once again to serve as an exhibition space and in future to accommodate in particular contemporary sculptures and reliefs.

Annette Gigon / Mike Guyer, Architekten