Hauptpost Basel Pop-Up

BASEL, SWITZERLAND – The refurbishment of the Hauptpost will soon bring a historic landmark in the heart of Basel’s city center to life for both residents and visitors. In anticipation of the project’s completion next year, one room of the construction site is now open to the public as a pop-up bar and restaurant, running from May 9th to 22nd. Hosted by Restaurant Zur Mägd, the bar welcomes visitors from 5 p.m. daily, while dinner reservations can be made here. The Hauptpost Pop-up is an initiative by Basel Tourismus – we are happy to contribute to this temporary intervention together with AXA, Drees & Sommer, ERNE AG Bauunternehmung, and StadtKonzeptBasel.

As part of the pop-up concept, we produced a short film that is projected in the room. The film examines the hidden course of the Birsig river as it runs through the city, tracing the flow of the Birsig from Heuwaage to Les Trois Rois, where it meets the Rhine. Medieval Basel was built around the Birsig river – the Hauptpost is one of the historic buildings of Basel’s old town constructed directly above the Birsig, which flows beneath its foundations. At the end of the nineteenth century, the Birsig was covered and thus disappeared from the city’s surface — nevertheless, it continues to shape the city’s streets to this day.

Video: Pierre de Meuron, Bettina Keller-Back, Yasmin Kherad, Nikola Miloradovic, Elisabeth Pestalozzi, Wim Walschap, Edward Wang, Vilém Wolf (no audio, 11 min. 03 s.)

Historical Materials: Pierre de Meuron, Staatsarchiv Basel

Special Thanks to: Tiefbauamt Kanton Basel-Stadt, Ideenreich GmbH, Brigitta Gerber