Residential Housing Sevogelstrasse Basel

A four-story residential, street-front building, and a two-story courtyard house are part of the real estate in the middle-class residential neighbourhood with structures from the past two centuries. The apartment building in front was built in 1930 with large, middle-class apartments. The courtyard building from 1860 contains stables and was preserved in the new development of the street-front structure. The conversion project dealt elaborately with spatial and temporal themes. The site’s architectural language was interpreted and further developed through contemporary interventions.

Open spaces make juxtaposition of old and new tangible. The courtyard space becomes a connecting motif. A generous opening and expansion of the street-front building toward the courtyard orients the apartments on several sides. Revised use of the former stables reactivates them. The prior apartment typology is complemented. The placement of polygonal room cells creates a flowing area. The open, large space generates a duality to the orthogonal, street-facing spaces, which can be interconnected as enfilade  Private, room-size outer spaces are arranged in front of the courtyard facade, which is provided with large, sliding windows. Their polygonal shape interlocks the apartments with the courtyard and affords a westward orientation. The courtyard can be experienced deep into the apartment as a ‘green lung’. On the top floor, the courtyard building is opened up and the block-shaped construction dismantled to the timber framework. A continuous layer of glass in front and partially vertical wood elements lend the addition a generousness to match the solid base.

The street-facing facade’s new colouring is derived from the brick frame of the gate-like entrance. Plaster, roof tiles, and dark copper dormer frames generate a homogenous, calm overall effect. Freely-formed large dormer volumes suggest the new geometry. Open lamellae as screen elements connect the balcony panels to tower-like structures. Scaling and stringing together the variously shaped lamellae creates the effect of a three-dimensional topography. Vertical truss posts are placed before the exposed timber supports of the courtyard house. The variously strung vertical elements outline an imaginary space, whose effect as empty wall is reinforced by reflections in the glass membrane. The formal language of lamellae and truss posts can be traced back to the design of the courtyard building’s rafter heads.