245 St.Jakob Tower

The Mercedes-Benz facility is designed as an open, transparent structure, whose walls and roof slab grow out of the platform. The showroom spaces for new and second-hand cars span three levels linked by ramps.

The elevated platform (6.10 meters above the stadium perimeter level), like the existing facility, is a key pedestrian circulation hub – a place to see and be seen – while also doubling up as a venue for future events. Located on the eastern front (looking towards Muttenz), it is modeled as an artificial topography marking off the sports and visitor facilities while also creating a smooth transition to the revitalized Birs riverside pathway.

The tower’s massing responds to the particular features of the site, the occupancy types, visual axes and shading requirements. The building houses apartments mainly on the southern elevation and upper tower levels, coupled with offices on the northern elevation. The tower reads as a crystalline glass volume with openings for balconies to serve the apartments. For reasons of noise control (motorway and railway lines), the northern elevation is designed as a blank, unbroken façade with no balconies.
Herzog & de Meuron, 2008