Open Call AWB’24 Reservoir

In September 2024, during AWB’24 (7–13 Sept), a spatial, cultural and/or social interventions will share the RESERVOIR with its everyday users. The interventions are intended to engage with the built structures and its reason for existence, the hidden reservoir, but also to reinterpret and play with it. The jury seeks ideas that not only engage with the immediate context for a short-term realization but also embody a long-term vision.

The winning project is «Resonance» by Marcel Arndt | rāumen, Tim Berresheim, Wiebke Schlüter | swstudio, Wolfgang Zeh | wolfgangzeh.

Built to protect nature, the water reservoir in Basel proves to be a monument to the fragile relationship that man has with his environment. We appropriate this artificial cave of the former extinguishing water basins and explore its resonant spaces. The abandoned and functionless infrastructure is archaeologically excavated, made visible again and set into vibration. The architecture itself becomes an instrument.

Jury: The proposal effectively leverages the building's spatial conditions and existing technical facilities, such as ventilation and their associated noises. This approach allows the building to function as an instrument, creating an immersive sound installation that can be experienced both during the Architekturwoche Basel 2024 and possibly in the long term.

(Text: jury report)