Basel Trade Tower

Location: Basel, Switzerland
Architects: Heinrich Degelo, Meinrad Morger and Daniele Marques

At a height of 105 meters, the Basel Trade Tower is the highest inhabited building in Switzerland. Although functionally a hybrid building containing a restaurant, hotel, and office space, the outside skin takes on a unified appearance through rigorous repetition of a single curtain wall glass panel. Like a folded piece of paper, the unitized system carefully wraps all surfaces of the building--wall, soffit and roof. The reveal between the panels and the panel width are kept consistent in all locations. Outside corner reveals, inside corner reveals and edge reveals have all been made to match the typical condition. Required devices and equipment are skillfully integrated into the cladding system as to not distract from the purity of the skin. Artificial lighting at the cantilevered entry canopy is placed behind glass panel units, cloaked during the day and appearing only at night. Air intake and exhaust are located behind glass grillwork placed within the basic panel type, discretely disguising it. The roof, a clean horizontal field of glass panels, has an appearance similar to that of the walls. Rain water passes through the joints where the panels meet and runs to a sloped roof hidden below. With changing light, the facade takes on different appearances throughout the day, sometimes crisply reflecting the sky and neighboring context while, at other times, becoming transparent and revealing the internal structural frame.

As with the exterior, the interior of the building carefully integrates building systems and devises in a way that does not distract from the architecture. The atrium space is located at the center of the elevated podium section of the building and provides natural light to the lobby and office spaces. As daylight wanes sensors activate artificial lighting located behind translucent panels lining the atrium space. This provides consistent ambient light levels throughout the day and into the evening. The climate is controlled by radiant hydronic tubes cast into the structural floor slabs, eliminating the need for large air handling ducts. The water within the tubes is cooled passively through the use of geothermal heat exchange taking advantage of the cool earth and water below. Hidden from view, fresh air is supplied at each level through ducts running in the floor plenum and entering rooms through discretely integrated architectural reveals. Return air exits rooms through a reveal at the top of the window wall, allowing the air to pass between the two layers of the window system and maintaining an even room temperature near the glass wall.