Engelhof Basel

Despite many destructive interventions, the Engelhof has retained a strong charisma that should not be erased, but rather complemented; renovations and alterations are subordinate to the existing building typology and fabric, static reinforcements can be grasped as an auxiliary construction, and the interior design reveals the existing heterogeneity.
The spatial complexity is supported by the lighting. The buildings, which have grown together additively, are connected by a coherent access concept based on the early university type with a central courtyard and classrooms accessed from the cloister. The clarity and transparency of this layout lends the building a generous feel.
The richness of the spatial situation is contrasted by a differentiated but restrained philosophy of detail: Space as form, light as a space-creating element and old structure as a material witness to history are in the foreground. Developed from its function and its specific location, the detail connects the different components through constancy in material, colour and expression.