<Jewish Museum of Switzerland, Basel, 2022–2025

The new Jewish Museum of Switzerland in Basel transforms a listed tobacco warehouse from 1852 into a contemporary museum site in which architecture, history, and art are combined into a unified work. Existing timber structures were activated, energetically improved, and further developed in accordance with the material, while new interventions were reduced to the essential. The east and west façades continue to orient themselves toward the historic punched window façade, and new openings were largely avoided.

The organisation of the museum follows a clear and flexible spatial concept. Around 750 m² were compactly structured into exhibition and event spaces, working areas, and technical infrastructure. The multi-storey exhibition space with the curved open wooden staircase forms the heart of the museum. Together with the lift, the circulation enables barrier-free use and addresses different groups of visitors on an equal basis.

The context of Vesalgasse, the rear courtyard, and the proximity to the early Jewish history of Basel is not overformed but precisely continued. The former delivery zone of the tobacco warehouse was transformed into a museum square. A central role is played by the wooden relief Jeziory by Frank Stella on the west façade. The artwork addresses the culture of timber construction in relation to the existing building as well as the destroyed synagogues and extends the architecture with an additional layer of meaning. The façade thereby moves from a mute into a speaking context and creates a resonance space between perception, memory, and city.

The museum conveys historical layers through materiality, scale, light, and art. Architecture is understood as a perceptible carrier of meaning that preserves history while simultaneously creating an open, contemporary place for Jewish culture in the city of Basel.