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The two British firms are among 11 international teams, including Denmark’s BIG, local practice Herzog & de Meuron and Tokyo’s Kengo Kuma Architects, competing to redesign the bank’s iconic headquarters.
Launched in June 2021, the competition seeks concepts to redevelop the international financial institution’s main campus, which “acts as a bank to the central bank” and occupies a site next to the Swiss city’s main train station.
Santiago-based Elemental and Basel-based Nissen Wentzlaff Architekten won the December 2022 competition. However, the final concept has just been unveiled as part of a public exhibition within the complex.
The 68,000 m2 project will provide a single location to consolidate all BIS activities and employees currently spread across Basel. Submissions were allowed to replace or rebuild a series of “aging and inefficient” buildings on the site, but must retain the bank’s landmark tower, designed by Martin Burckhardt and opened in 1977.
The Bank for International Settlements is an international financial institution owned by central banks around the world that promotes cooperation on issues related to financial stability.
The company currently has two offices in Basel: the Botta building on Aeschenplatz and the tower headquarters building on Centralbahnplatz, which is the focus of competition. The competition comes more than 20 years after Japanese firm Toyo Ito Architects won an earlier competition, although its vision to rebuild the tower never came to fruition.
Judges for the competition include Sacha Menz, Professor at ETH Zurich; Beat Aeberhard, Head of Urban Development and Architecture in the Canton of Basel-Stadt; Louisa Hutton, Sauerbruch Hutton, Berlin; and Monica Ellis, Secretary General and Head of the General Secretariat of the Bank for International Settlements .
List of qualifiers
- [WINNER] Elemental and Nissen Wentzlaff Architects in Basel (Chile/Switzerland)
- Bjarke Ingels Group and Gruner (Denmark/Switzerland)
- Boltshauser Architects (Switzerland)
- David Chipperfield Architects and Harry Gugger Studio (UK/Switzerland)
- Dominique Perrault Architects (France)
- Foster+Partners and Skreinstudios (UK/Spain)
- Herzog & de Meuron Basel (Switzerland)
- HHF Architekten, Tatiana Bilbao Estudio and Inside/Outside (Switzerland/Mexico/Netherlands)
- Kengo Kuma & Associates and FAB – Research and Architecture Office (Japan/Switzerland)
- Mecanoo International and Stähelin Partner Architects (Netherlands/Switzerland)
- SO-IL and Karamuk Kuo Architects (USA/Switzerland)
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