Loggia trouvée
Bessire Winter
Céline Bessire + Matthias Winter

The architects are opening up a new space in the hall. Using simple means, they are making the previously inaccessible rooftop accessible. Away from the art scene, visitors are introduced to an alternative space – accessible to all, oriented toward the city and facing the sun. Sur les toits, la plage.

From the street below you can experience the height of the stretched Messe façade which traces the eaves of downtown Basel. The building code called for a setback here, opening up a negative space cut out of the building mass. The eaves define a horizontal plane extending through the city’s body, which, once one reaches the top, is no longer anchored to the ground, yet not entirely detached from the city as it ascends toward the sky. This divided horizon reflects the Messe’s connection to Basel. The decision made in the 1990s to keep the Messe buildings on their long-established inner-city site is a commitment to the city, despite the logistical and operational challenges this entails. The Messe draws its vitality from this psychological momentum of being “a house in the city.” Spectacles and movement converge in the urban space. This reciprocal relationship between house and city is continued further up in the very same space on the setback, which, although part of the Messe, is always clearly oriented towards the city, similar to a loggia. Our project subtly transforms the Messe Hall with minor interventions and extends it with a space that already exists. Overlooking Klingentalstrasse toward the southwest, just above the café, a fragment of the loggia is accessed along the length of two full building axes (36.80m) and becomes its exterior space. The gigantic steel beam, which cantilevers over the roof, acquires a new spatial significance, defining the space and framing the view of the city.

Through minimal means, the main qualities of the project come to life. Inside the Messe Hall, between the two exhibition areas of the Swiss Art Awards, a series of objects create a public axis: a reception desk, a cinema, and a bar counter. At its end, right next to the bar, a long staircase extends this axis vertically and takes visitors through an open window directly into the loggia above the roof. Located ahead of the exhibition hall, this antechamber becomes the main attraction. Outside the art scene, visitors are introduced to an alternative space – accessible to all, oriented toward the city, and facing the sun. Sur les toits, la plage.

Friday, June 20
2 pm
Architecture Talk
Loggia trouvée
Céline Bessire and Matthias Winter in conversation with Yuma Shinohara,
organized in collaboration with S AM Swiss Architecture Museum
◔ 60 min / in German

Saturday, June 21
12 am – 8 pm
Radio Show
Loggia trouvée On Air
Furka Radio broadcasting from the Swiss Art Awards and online: www.furkaradio.com
The Loggia trouvée program will be announced regularly on: @bessirewinter