Centuries of contrasts

Indulging a boyhood fantasy, I run down the stairs pretending I’m on urgent business. Instantly, all childhood warnings are proved right: I trip over the end of the bannister at the bottom and almost fall over. Serves me right, you might say — although I really think it’s a fault in the design.
Or maybe Zaha Hadid had another reason for putting it where she did — who knows how these starchitects think? But buildings don’t need to come with an instruction manual, especially not fire stations. This building, at furniture manufacturer Vitra’s campus in the Basel suburb of Weil am Rhein across the German border, was designed as an alert structure, ready to explode into action at any moment. When an alarm goes off, though, it’s the firemen springing up to do their jobs who are likely to be injured in the line of duty.
Maybe that’s why the building is now rented out for events and its vehicle bay functions as a lecture hall for visiting groups. The toilets also had to be modified; they originally  had clear glass doors and as my guide deadpans, nobody wants other people to know what newspaper they read.
But enough quibbling. Like her soaring, organic bridge that connects Abu Dhabi city to the rest of the UAE, the British Iraqi architect’s dynamic, almost tensely coiled fire station is undoubtedly a piece of art.

Designer gem
Architectural jewels dot the grounds at Vitra, and the campus offers a preview of what Abu Dhabi’s Saadiyat Island might be like. A flamboyant Frank O. Gehry structure functions as the Vitra Design Museum, a conference centre by Tadao Ando brings a taste of Japanese geometry to rural Germany, and a factory by Portugal’s greatest living architect, Alvaro Siza, features a novel bridge that automatically descends when it rains, serving as a roof for workers carrying materials to the adjoining Nicholas Grimshaw building. Elsewhere, seven longhouses appear to be placed haphazardly on top of each other to form the VitraHaus atelier and shop, designed by Switzerland’s most famous architects, Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron, best known for Beijing’s famous Bird’s Nest Stadium. Even Jasper Morrison’s bus stop, from where day trippers take a coach for the 10-minute ride back to Basel, has chairs by Charles and Ray Eames.
Pocket-sized Basel straddles the knee of the Rhine, with one side, Grossbasel, predating Kleinbasel on the opposite bank by some 1,000 years. Situated where the Swiss, German and French borders converge, this trendy, cosmopolitan city is home to only 200,000 residents, but the wider metropolitan area has suburbs in Germany and France and a total population of about one million.
So international is the city that entire avenues could be in Paris, while adjacent streets could be anywhere in Germany. Better yet, unlike in the rest of Switzerland, the German-speaking natives will respond if you speak to them in French or English.
The city’s strategic position means tennis champion Roger Federer’s hometown has been a natural trade hub since 1471, when it was granted the right to hold fairs and exhibitions. Its annual watch and modern art fairs are the must-attend annual events in their sectors today, and Switzerland’s third-largest city has now acquired a reputation as a hub for art and architecture. There are nearly 40 museums here, including several for art, one for teddy bears and another for paper and printing. Both old and new buildings abound, among them a Romanesque cathedral, a Renaissance-era town hall and contemporary structures by 11 Pritzker Prize-winning architects in the surrounding region.
Architecture is integral to the Basler character. Travellers exiting the train station — an attraction in itself — are immediately drawn to Martin Burckhardt’s circular Bank of International Settlements building. Now unfashionably retro, it was extremely controversial when it was built in the seventies. The Swiss Heritage Society objected that the tower would disrupt Basel’s historic skyline and some 13 metres were shaved off the original design. In a 1971 public referendum, nearly 70 per cent of those polled voted for the new design and the tower finally opened to the public in 1977. Basel has since become known as an open-air museum of modern architecture, with most sights within walking distance of each other.

Corporate patronage
But Basel isn’t just some ancient European cultural centre. As the centre of the Swiss chemical and pharmaceutical industries, it’s a lively, dynamic city, even on corporate campuses, where much of its finest modern construction is to be found. Switzerland’s tallest tower, drug company Roche’s Building 1, is currently under construction. A giant sloping wedge that costs $592 million (Dh2.2 billion), it will be 178 metres tall when the country’s most famous architects, Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron, finish it in 2015.
But fans of the pair will find their strikingly contemporary architectural sculptures everywhere. Worth trekking to, for example — even in the rains — is the stunning SBB Switchtower. Covered in horizontal copper strips that twist upwards to let in the daylight, this curved building transforms an ordinary railway signal box into a dramatic piece of art. Depending on where you’re looking at it from, the sky can appear to reflect off the frontage, so the structure magically disappears into the heavens.
Or stop by the polygonal Schaulager building. This bit of origami is a museum, exhibition space and new-wave art warehouse all in one.
Pharmaceutical giant Novartis’ headquarters are another major draw for architecture fans: on the site of a former industrial complex are buildings by Gehry, Ando, Siza, SANAA, Fumihko Maki and David Chipperfield, all constructed according to a plan created by the Italian architect V. M. Lampugnani. Construction will continue until 2030. The grounds are open to the public on select Saturdays and tours, run by Basel Tourism, cost CHF22 per head.
Two buildings by the Ticino architect Mario Botta are also worth stopping at. The Jean Tinguely Museum, dedicated to the kinetic artist’s work, is a massive red brick, almost mobile structure that invites the visitor to relax and interact with the art and the environment. Botta’s other building is an imposing construction for UBS Bank, and is now owned by the BIS. A spectacular semi-circular structure of alternating light and dark stone, it is a sort of rounded corner block set back from the street so as not to weigh down the airy square it sits on near the train station.
Other modern highlights are edifices by Renzo Piano (Fondation Beyeler, which houses the modern classics collected by art dealers Ernst Beyeler and Hilda Kunz) and Richard Meier (the Euregio offices).

Ancient charm
Fans of traditional architecture  also have plenty to look forward to. One of the few Swiss cities hit during the Second World War, Basel’s centre remains largely unscathed. Winding lanes around the older part of town are dotted with houses built over the centuries since the city was destroyed in a devastating earthquake in 1356.
The area around the cathedral, Münsterplatz, was first settled by Celts in the first century BC and is now the scene of several open-air exhibitions, especially during the Herbstmesse autumn fair. The remains of original Celtic wall can be seen in windows put into the ground here, along the Rittergasse. Also destroyed by the earthquake, the cathedral was restored in the Gothic style and is today most notable for the tomb of the Dutch humanist Erasmus and for its sculptural façade, which features carvings of St Gall and St George, typically slaying a dragon. Large basilisks, the city’s mythical protectors, are everywhere here, spouting water or merely standing guard.
Across town — away from the seat of the ruling bishop-princes in a show of mercantile independence — is the red sandstone Rathaus or town hall, built from 1504 to 1514, when Basel joined the Swiss Confederation. Sitting on a lively market square, where vendors sell flowers and organic produce everyday except Sunday, it’s a rather opulent building, painted with the coats of arms of the various cantons and images of medieval warriors. When it was expanded in the nineteenth century, the additions were matched to the existing structure, but the decorative elements on the outside were recreated in what was then the latest style, Art Nouveau.

Plenty of art
The Rathaus was once the official repository of city art, but art lovers today must stop by the Kunstmuseum, which houses a permanent collection of 19th and 20th century works, including an entire room of Picassos. For people with only a few hours to take in some of the city’s artistic highlights, head to the Theaterplatz, where Tinguely’s Carnival fountain stands on the site of the city’s old theatre. In a shallow asphalt basin, ten iron eminences spout water at each other, in a conversation reminiscent of the performers who once dominated this spot.
Since it was finished in 1977, the fountain has been a city favourite, a distinction that escapes Richard Serra’s large public sculpture, Intersection, right next to it. Tinguely and Serra were friends, my guide Elsa Martin tells me, but Serra’s monumental work is often turned into an impromptu billboard. Like much else in this city of contrasts, it is an invitation to debate and discourse.

What’s on the menu?
For something typically Basler, cross the picturesque Mittler Brücke into Kleinbasel and stop at the Läckerli Huus for the city’s gingerbread-like honey biscuits, which are still being made to a 700-year-old traditional recipe.  A few metres away lies the newly renovated Hotel Krafft, which although merely three-star, features stylish modern rooms that play well out of its category. Its terrace overlooks the Rhine and is a popular place to stop and watch Basel go by at lunchtime. In the summer, guests booking ahead for dinner will be picked up in an original 1962 Jaguar MK 10. And what’s on the menu? Stuffed quail, confit of veal and Papardelle with venison and Venezuelan chocolate.
Another renovated treat is off the trendy Claraplatz shopping area. Brasserie No 2 at the historic 1925 Volkshaus building opened in March this year after an extensive refurbishment by Herzog and de Meuron and you can’t go wrong with its spicy steak tartare. While you’re here, visit its quirkily decorated toilets. But if you’ve only got one night in this trendy city, stop by Der Teufelhof Basel in the centre of town, whose Restaurant Bel Etage offers delicately balanced gourmet degustation menus in a classic salon environment. Expect such delights as an Asian-style variation of duck and lamb with lavender honey sauce. Those with special requests will appreciate the gluten-free bread, which unlike the leaden stuff served in most places, is light, crisp and just like the real thing. So good, we’re coming back to Basel just to eat here again!