All Under One Roof

Description

How Basel’s former military barracks were transformed into a new public cultural and creative hub.  
In a complex transformation, the Basel-based architecture firm Focketyn del Rio Studio converted the main building of Basel’s former military barracks into a vibrant cultural and creative hub. Situated on the embankment of the Rhine, already a nightlife hotspot, it offers some 32,000 square feet of work and project spaces, a spacious plaza, a theater hall, as well as a bar and restaurant.
 
All Under One Roof documents the building’s new architecture in detail and tells the story of Focketyn del Rio Studio, which won the competition for rebuilding the Kaserne Basel in 2013 only six months after the firm was formed. Interviews, concise texts, photographs, as well as plans and drawings, provide insight into the evolution of the project, the history of the old barracks, and the process of its redesign. In addition, it uses the barrack conversion as an example to discuss key questions about the design and use of urban public spaces more broadly.
  Basel-based Focketyn del Rio Studio was established by Miquel del Rio and Hans Focketyn. In 2014, the firm won the Foundation Award for Young Swiss Architects. Claudia Mion is an architect and editorial director of Caryatide, a Paris-based platform for reflection on architecture, art, and design. She is also visiting professor at the École Spéciale d'Architecture in Paris.
 

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