Luca Selva Architekten

Description

The master plan for the City Gate area in Basel is the work of Diener & Diener. Using four large, prismatic, loosely arranged buildings, a leafy courtyard-like internal space is created in conjunction with the existing villa. The paramount theme for the buildings, designed by Luca Selva Architekten, Diener & Diener and Herzog & de Meuron, is the forest. Accordingly, the massive concrete columns of the eleven-storey senior residence are designed so that they seem to grow out of the ground just like trees. The ground floor of the building is geared for public uses, the first and second floors for the nursing care department, and the upper floors house approximately 100 senior apartments. The wreath-like arrangement of each storey’s floor plan, incorporating the access core, corridors, apartments and the external support structure, is reminiscent of a tree’s growth rings, once again evoking the forest theme. The elegance of the residential floor plans can be attributed to the extremely compact, well-proportioned arrangement of the rooms around the central kitchen.