The history of the Burgvogtei, a medieval manor and later the Volkshaus Basel, goes back to the 14th century. The location has always been a site of concentrated and varied use — a piece of city within the city. In 1845, a brewery with a restaurant was erected there and expanded in 1874 to house a beer and concert hall. When the premises were taken over by the city of Basel in 1905, the facilities, with their diverse spaces, became a hub of political, social and cultural activities.A hotel with 45 rooms has been completely integrated into the Volkshaus, replacing the offices previously located in the head building. The original diversity of the Volkshaus Basel has been reanimated and made fully accessible to the public.As in the renovation of the brasserie, the bar, and the small event halls, completed in 2012, we started by removing the “crust” that had been applied in the 1970s, naturally hoping to make interesting historical discoveries. We soon realized that none of the original substance had survived except for the windows, so that we had to rely on other clues to work out our design. Historical plans of the bedrooms in the attic were one source of information—simple rooms with bed, closet, and washbasin, of the kind still found in historical hotels today, especially in Switzerland. On the other floors, rows of closets lined the central corridor, interrupted by doors, placed flush, which led to administrative and conference rooms. We also drew on some of the ideas underlying the 2012 renovations of the brasserie and the bar to ensure a congenial, consistent ensemble of carefully selected materials and forms throughout the Volkshaus, which was no doubt also the case in 1925.

In collaboration with Herzog de Meuron.