Herzog & de Meuron, Masterplan in Nordspitze, Basel, Switzerland

The Swiss firm Herzog & de Meuron has won the competition for the chance to develop a new masterplan for Nordspitze, an area to the south of the city of Basel, birthplace of both Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron. Organized around two extensive green zones, the project proposes constructing three slim, cylindrical residential towers bound to become the city’s tallest residential skyscrapers, and it creates a new passable roof for the MParc shopping center, which will be surrounded by the operation. It is hoped that the plan – which upholds an urban fabric of mixed uses providing housing for an estimated 1,400 people – will be approved by the year 2020.