Since the theme of the diploma (Basel 2035) envisages a disruption of the traffic strategy along Schwarzwaldallee, the project considers the road no longer as busy as it is today, but rather envisages a futuristic and utopian situation in which, with the construction of the Rhine Tunnel, city traffic will be limited along the perimeter of the city of Basel, while public transport and cycle-pedestrian routes will predominantly be present on the inner streets.

Along the linear axis of the Basel Bad BF station, north of Schwarzwaldallee, between the tracks and the exit of the underground road, there is an embankment temporarily exploited as a parking lot for rental cars and as a disorganized open-air storage area for equipment and heavy goods coming into the station. This lot provides a space for a long, linear lightweight steel structure that would benefit both the public and the storage functions of the Eilguthalle des Badischen Bahnhofs Basel.

The basic concept of the project is developed around the idea of considering the steel structure as a large and long roof (almost 500x48m) that can accommodate modular spaces containing “metal boxes”, similar to containers, of different sizes according to the space requirements for various commercial and other activities.

Alongside the tracks, the infrastructure, in addition to housing the station’s storage areas and administrative spaces, through the use of overhead cranes, becomes a machine for loading and unloading heavier goods from freight trains and small trucks or vans. These last ones, coming from the exit of the underground Rhine Tunnel, reach the lot via a ramp at the northern end of the road.

The opposite wing of the steel infrastructure, on the other hand, which overlooks Schwarzwaldallee, provides specific spaces for the Hirzbrunnen farmers’, craft markets and more. The two wings are joined by a large central hall used as both recreational and exhibition space during the Basel Fair. The “Railway Hall” is designed as an “urban machine” for social, recreational and especially commercial activities of the city of Basel.

Summary of structural data

The steel structure behaves as a funicular polygon with a parabolic force pattern which repeats itself as a module every 10 meters along the whole building: the load forces from the roof are immediately discharged from the main roof beams to the “Y” pillars to the ground The loads from the mezzanine, on the other hand, are also discharged to the ground along the oblique pillars, but thanks to the pretensioned metal rods placed along the perimeter of the intermediate floor (these are also used to support the hanging stairs for the double circulation of the building, both inside and outside), these forces are partly carried back to the main perforated beams in the “H” shape (the ø 35 cm holes allow the passage of ventilation pipes), so that the mezzanine is more securely supported.

To prevent the collapse of the delicate ‘Y’ pillars, they are inserted into underground concrete plinths that are held in place by tensioned metal cables to prevent the pillar base from sliding outwards.

On the other hand, in order to prevent the rotation of the pillars, at the point where these are joined to the ‘H’ beams of the mezzanine, there is an “I” beam just below these last ones, which crosses the various modules, shown in the scheme below, along the entire length of the building, thus creating a connection point between the various vertical and horizontal elements, preventing the rotation of the pillars, facilitating the distribution of loads as well as reinforcing the connection points.