Dreispitz university quarter study contract

A new university quarter is to be built on the Dreispitz. It will be home to the Faculty of Law and the Faculty of Economics in the future.

In June 2021, the landowner CMS and Swiss Prime Site Immobilien, as the participating building rights holder, invited tenders for an urban planning study contract to develop the new university quarter in Dreispitz. The primary aim is to create an innovative and attractive university education campus. However, other uses such as housing, neighbourhood amenities for daily needs, restaurants, childcare facilities, leisure facilities and businesses are also to be established. A building for the Swiss Circus Centre Basel is also planned.

Together with the university, a sustainable, attractive and lively neighbourhood with high-quality and climate-relevant outdoor and green spaces is to be created. Together with the FHNW School of Art and Design and the planned FHNW School of Business, the new university site will form an actual education cluster on the Dreispitz.

The assessment panel was unanimously in favour of considering the proposals of the team led by Grafton Architects/Blaser Architekten in the study parameters as the basis for further planning steps. What particularly impressed the assessment panel about this proposal was that the character of the Dreispitz was further developed and a continuous green area was planned. Existing structures should be reused wherever possible and the disused railway tracks should be incorporated. According to the report, the planning team presents an extremely intelligent, aesthetic and sustainable approach that deals with what is already there and responds to the current challenges of people- and climate-friendly urban development.

Further planning steps and building licence negotiations are now to be prepared on the basis of the study. The new university quarter is expected to be visible from 2030 and the building will be handed over to the University of Basel as its user.