Abstract:

Riehener Höfe transforms a former carriage museum site at Sarasin Park in Riehen, opposite Renzo Piano's Fondation Beyeler, into a cultural destination and neighborhood center. Two new buildings embrace an existing barn, forming three courtyards: an intimate yard evoking a historic farmstead, a forecourt opening toward the park, and a passage connecting to the village.

The barn is preserved and reinterpreted, its character extended through two structures completing the courtyard typology. A café, workshop, event spaces and exhibitions activate the site for residents and visitors. Below ground, a former parking garage becomes exhibition space, connected underground between both buildings. A light well pierces the courtyard into the gallery, guiding visitors through atmospheric shifts from daylight to darkness.

Oak timber frames with mortise-and-tenon joints filled with straw-clay infill, clay plaster interiors and copper roofing follow pre-industrial building traditions. These materials, straw, clay, wood, are those found on farmsteads and in barns, grounding the architecture in the identity of the place. The 50cm straw-clay walls ensure thermal mass and humidity regulation, while the copper patina gradually blends with the existing tile roof.

Riehener Höfe demonstrates that architecture rooted in local craft, sustainable materials and a generous public program can foster coexistence: between heritage and innovation, building and landscape, a community and its history.