Grosspeter Tower
Basel, Switzerland
2013-2017
Grosspeter
Tower.
Overview
Client
PSP Real Estate AG, Zürich, Switzerland
Architecture
Burckhardt+Partner, Basel, Switzerland
Team ZPF
Jörg Brändlin, Enrico Cristini, Heike Egli-Erhart, Antje Käser-Wassmer, Kata Aletta Orbán, Jacqueline Pauli, Flamin Tröster, Andreas Zachmann
Awards
Swiss Solar Award, category ”new constructions“
Prixforix, Swiss Façade Award, 3rd prize
tracks, this high-rise projects upwards to a height of 78 m and provides 18,000 m² of floor space for a hotel and offices.
Its shape comes from the concept of two interlocking volumes. The ground floor accommodates spacious lobby and reception areas for the offices in the tower and for the hotel in the base section, which were built according to a core-and-shell principle.
On the four underground levels, which utilise the parcel’s entire area, there is a multi-storey car park with a total of 153 parking spaces, as well as the hotel’s delivery zone.
The excavation pit extended to a maximum of 13 m below ground level and was sunk vertically on all sides, due to the inner-city space limitations. The underground levels were concreted directly onto the walls of the excavation pit on three sides.
Pile walls were installed along the streets, and the higher foundation of the neighbouring building was secured by means of a slight slope. A temporary means of access to this neighbouring building’s exterior escape stairwell was installed and an auxiliary bridge was built over one area of the excavation pit to allow access to the construction site.
Immediately behind the excavation pit, slightly recessed, is the entrance to the Basel SBB main railway station. The closest track axes are about 12 m away from the pit wall. The anchors and excavation pit were monitored. A protective fence and cranes with partially restricted rotation protected the tracks from falling parts.