Pop music as a branch of pop culture has its roots in a subculture that consciously emancipated itself from high culture from the 1960s onwards and quickly established itself through its success. The ‘Kuppel Basel’ is part of this history, which has recently regained importance. The competition project VOLUME 2 expresses the essence of this cultural movement in the ‘Kuppel reloaded’. The design for the concert hall under the cupola fulfils the desire for a special sound and spatial experience. The hall is built for the music, it should unfold within it.

The ‘Neue Kuppel Basel’ consists of two individual buildings - the ‘Kuppel’, meaning cupola in german, and ‘Volume 3’ - which are connected underground by a shared basement. The ‘Kuppel’ serves as a location for the club and party scene as well as for concerts and other cultural events. Band rehearsal rooms and a transformer room are located in the basement, the foyer, bar and storage on the ground floor, the concert hall with dance floor and stage, bar and storage on the first floor under the cupola and the gallery for the audience and the artists' dressing rooms on the first floor. ‘Volume 3’ is used as an office building with a café/restaurant on the ground floor and a music club in the basement.