➤ Photo: Rory Gardiner. Kunsthaus Baselland, ‘Rewilding’, Münchenstein / Basel, 2024. Tony Cokes in collaboration with MOS Architects NYC, <Design.Sociality.Space> (4 Studies 4 A Club), 2024.

Kunsthaus Baselland

A building’s renewal is never merely a matter of repair. It is an attempt to extend the life of a space and allow it to take on a new purpose. Few long-time residents of Switzerland’s Dreispitz district could have anticipated that a former champagne warehouse—once one of many elongated storage buildings in the area’s characteristic linear arrangement—would be transformed into a site for contemporary art. Since the Kunsthaus Baselland moved into the former warehouse in 2024, visitors have been able to trace, through their movement in the galleries, how Buchner Bründler Architects intervened in the structure and reinterpreted it. The warehouse’s original components are reactivated within the new program, their presence shaping a spatial narrative together with the contemporary elements introduced into the building.

➤ Photo: Rory Gardiner. Kunsthaus Baselland, ‘Rewilding’, Münchenstein / Basel, 2024. Pipilotti Rist. 香港中環吊燈 <Central Hong Kong Chandelier>, 2021. © Pipilotti Rist / 2024, ProLitteris, Zurich. Courtesy the artist, Hauser & Wirth and Luhring Augustine. Monira Al Quadiri

➤ Photo: Rory Gardiner. Kunsthaus Baselland, ‘Rewilding’, Münchenstein / Basel, 2024.

Tony Cokes in collaboration with MOS Architects NYC, 

<Design.Sociality.Space> (4 Studies 4 A Club), 2024.

➤ Photo: Rory Gardiner

➤ Photo: Rory Gardiner

Seen from a distance, three prismatic light towers appear as slender vertical volumes threaded between the existing steel framework. Their height and sharply defined edges give the museum a clear long-range silhouette. These tower-like forms draw zenithal light deep into the hall, creating an even, luminous environment that makes the institution immediately identifiable. While preserving the warehouse’s steel trusses, Buchner Bründler Architects inserted a new structural system that both supports and reorganizes the interior. The prismatic light towers are anchored to the existing foundation at three points, forming the core of an internal spatial matrix. Alongside them, a sinuous cast-in-place concrete volume moves through the hall, generating a second exhibition level. This layered terrain encourages visitors to navigate the galleries dynamically; looking upward, they find daylight cascading through the light wells and diffusing across the different zones.

➤ Photo: Rory Gardiner. Kunsthaus Baselland, ‘Rewilding’, Münchenstein / Basel, 2024. Naama Tsabar, <Melodies of Certain Damage series> 

Here, the experience of art extends beyond the works on display. The warehouse’s ramped base, steel framework, and delicate roof truss have been intentionally retained, contributing to the depth and material resonance of the interior. In the coexistence of old and new, the space reveals a complex and luminous character. As visitors move through the inserted structures, the traces of time embedded in the existing materials become perceptible, inviting a quiet reading of the building’s earlier life and the history it continues to carry.

➤ Photo: Rory Gardiner. Kunsthaus Baselland, ‘Rewilding’, Münchenstein / Basel, 2024. Leonor Serrano Rivas, "RhythmPatterns Nº1" (tapestry, 2024), "Carcase Nº2, Nº4, Nº5" (sculpture, 2024), and "I Leave Profundity to You" (installation, 2024).

➤ Photo: Rory Gardiner.

Kunsthaus Baselland, ‘Rewilding’, Münchenstein / Basel, 2024. Gerda Steiner & Jörg Lenzlinger, <Altar für das Prekäre>, 2024.

➤ Photo: Rory Gardiner

➤ Photo: Rory Gardiner

Principal Designers | Daniel Buchner, Andreas Bründler

Participates | Raphaela Schacher, Bülend Yigin, Daniel Ebertshäuser, Simone Braendle, Fabienne Saladin, Jon Garbizu Etxaide, Luise Daut, Benjamin Hofmann, Antonia Haffner, Leandro Villalba

Character of Space | Art Exhibition Space

Gross Floor Area | 2540 m²

Engineering | ZPF Ingenieure AG, Basel 

Materials | In-situ Concrete / Steel / Calcium Silicate Bricks / Fibre Cement Panels / Timber / Glazing / Aluminium

Location | Münchenstein, Switzerland