119 Central Signal Box – Herzog & de Meuron

Competition: 1994
Project: 1995
Realization: 1998-1999

The new main Signal Tower is situated in the railroad yards at the southeast bank of the bridge, Muenchensteinerbrücke. Being as close to the street as an apartment or office building, it relates as much to the city as it does to the railroad yards. Thanks to its object-like character, the building is spatially linked to the other solitary buildings that characterize this disparate urban area.

But the new main Signal Tower is also within sight of the recently completed Signal Box 4, located in “auf dem Wolf“ in a section of the railroad yards separated from the neighborhood streets of the city. The similarity of structure and the copper strips wrapped around both buildings underscore their spatial relationship. They form a pair that could later be expanded into a group.

Now completed, Signal Box 4 has been so well optimized that it has become a prototype that can be erected, like a standardized structure, in all the urban regions of Switzerland. The use of such a similar structure throughout Switzerland would dovetail with a vision of the country as one single urban landscape.

Although the design of the main Signal Tower is the same as that of Signal Box 4, it is different in appearance due to its location on a trapezoidal, almost triangular, plot of land between the railroad tracks. The ground plan evolves from bottom to top into a rectangle. The copper strips cover the steps in the façade so that it becomes difficult to read the building‘s geometrical shape. It evokes something more organic and vulnerable, like a head or a brain, rather than a piece of technical equipment.

Herzog & de Meuron, 1998

Process

Towards the street, the copper strips are cut off from the strip windows, taking back the monolithic character of the building and introducing a human scale.

The signal box amidst the tracks and cables in front of Basel’s main station.

With its movement, the signal box takes up the turn of the bridge in its immediate vicinity.

The signal box rises above the tracks with its increasing volume.

Drawings

Team

Partners: Jacques Herzog; Pierre de Meuron; Harry Gugger
Project Team: Philippe Fürstenberger (Project Architect)

Facts

Client: Schweizerische Bundesbahnen (Anlagen Management)
Planning: General Planning: ARGE, Herzog & de Meuron, Proplaning AG, Basel, Switzerland; Architect Planning: Herzog & de Meuronn, Basel, Switzerland; Construction Management: : Proplaning AG, Basel, Switzerland; Structural Management: Proplaning AG, Basel, Switzerland; HVAC Engineering: Silzer Energieconsulting AG, Liestal, Switzerland; Electrical Engineering: Selmoni AG, Basel, Switzerland; Plumbing Engineering: Balduin Weisser AG, Basel, Switzerland
Specialist / Consulting: Facade Consulting: Tecton AG, Pratteln, Switzerland
Building Data: Footprint: 3'390 sqft, 315 sqm; Length: 82 ft, 25 m; Width: 45 ft, 14 m

Bibliography

Gerhard Mack, Herzog & de Meuron: “Herzog & de Meuron 1992-1996. The Complete Works. Volume 3.” Edited by: Gerhard Mack. Chinese ed. Beijing, China Architecture & Building Press, 2010. Vol. No. 3.

Fernando Márquez Cecilia, Richard Levene (Eds.): “El Croquis. Herzog & de Meuron 1981-2000. Between the Face and the Landscape. The Cunning of Cosmetics. Entre el Rostro y el Paisaje. La Astucia de la Cosmética.” 2nd adv. and rev. ed. Vol. No. 60+84, Madrid, El Croquis, 2005.

Nobuyuki Yoshida (Ed.): “Architecture and Urbanism. Herzog & de Meuron 1978-2002.” Tokyo, A+U Publishing Co., Ltd., 02.2002.

“Herzog & de Meuron. Natural History.” Edited by: Philip Ursprung. Exh. Cat. “Herzog & de Meuron. Archaeology of the Mind.” Canadian Centre for Architecture, Montreal. 23 October 2002 – 6 April 2003. 2nd ed. Baden, Lars Müller, 2005.