<Weidmatt Quartier, Lausen, 2014–2020

With the Swiss-wide closure of the former "Cheddite" explosives factory in Basel-Landschaft, a change of use was planned for the area bordering the Ergolz.  Two plots are to be developed with ten residential buildings to expand the Weidmatt neighbourhood. The first wooden buildings with 120 flats completed in 2020 are located within the planning perimeter of Lausen, which covers around 14,000 square metres. The landmarked transformer house and wash and bath house, together with the remise for vehicles, will continue to tell of the industrial history that gives the site its identity and thus recognisability, which goes beyond its landscape characteristics. The neighbouring Brunnenberg Forest and the natural banks of the river are two of the neighbourhood's key locational factors. The A22 motorway, which was renewed in 2013, also runs parallel to the river. The houses along the river are in the shadow of its noise barrier, which counteracts the negative impact.

The spatial arrangement of the new residential buildings is based on the elongated factory buildings embedded in the wooded slope by the river. The two clusters that have already been realised and a third planned cluster form an open development around a plaza.

This central communal space above the single-storey car park, which is stretched between the wooden buildings, forms the midpoint and leads to the house entrances and provides an expansive view from the terraces of the upper houses, which are bordered by low hornbeam hedges. Initially planted with small trees, it evolves into a small urban park that shelters the various activities.

The timber architecture seeks uniformity inside and outside the new residential buildings. The use of different wood stains on the outside also introduces a play of relationships between the houses in the new neighbourhood. The alternating hues of silver and brown of the pressure-impregnated spruce wood, protected with a double wood oil glaze, convey a sense of modernity and closeness to nature. The vertical arrangement of the façade laths and the sculptural accentuation of the façade struts lend the buildings a visual lightness. The high wooden façades facing south-east are subdivided by loggias, to which the living rooms and kitchens are connected. The four and five-storey structures, which vary in length, contain two to three flats per staircase. The flats with rental space vary between 2.5 and 6.5 rooms.

The Cheddite development is a large timber construction project whose planning includes an innovative energy concept with photovoltaics, car sharing and other stimulus for the conscious use of resources.