Grand Casino Basel

Red cube, brilliant facade

When the new Grand Casino Basel was completed at the end of October 2003, a new star rose in the architectural skies over Basel: The cubic structure, which is clad in glass, radiates a warm red color at night. Its design was entrusted to the architects and general planners Burckhardt+Partner AG in Basel. The facade construction is made up of two layers: The outer insulation with red colored plastering is clad in glass, with a clearance of eight centimeters between the plastering and the glass. The glass panels have a red pattern printed on them. In the intermediate layer, the red light slides and is reflected up and down. The light sources are LED printed circuit boards with reinforced optics along the edge of the roof and the base. At night-time, the fiery and mystic play of lights dominates the architectural appearance. During the daytime, the appearance is marked by changing perception factors such as light, sun, distance, closeness, etc.

Compact building

The visually compact building has neither a front nor a back because the entrance is located on the side away from the street. Access to the building is provided through a big opening in the cube. The facade facing the court is structured by the clear lines of the high projecting roof and the recessed, glazed entrance floor with round revolving door. The building passage, which is necessary for access, imparts a clear structure to the building at all levels, separating it into public and dedicated rooms. The peripheral core access and ancillary areas for the public and personnel are spanned by the open areas housing a wide variety of game worlds.

Distributed utilization

The cube above ground, which shows only one third of the total building volume, has four levels and measures 35 x 25 x 20 meters (l x b x h). Underneath the ground, the building volume extends in the form of a triangle (100 x 35 to 5 x 15.5 meters) over five floors. The entrance level comprises the reception and distribution hall with the receptionist’s desk (legal admission check), an inviting bar and the intimate brasserie. The gambling areas are accessed via escalators, either down to the 250 slot-machines and four gambling tables (Black Jack, American Roulette) or up to the 12 gambling tables (Black Jack, American Roulette, French Roulette, Baccarat, Poker).The upper floor can be utilized separately and is provided with an event hall with a stage and catering facilities. The other building levels house the personnel rooms, the administration, the technical installations and the security systems – in brief: the infrastructure needed for successful casino operations. The parking garage with a total of 280 parking spaces extends over the first underground building levels in the rear part of the 3560-square-metre premises and the third to fifth basement levels underneath the casino. The parking garage is accessed through a separate entrance outside the building.

Central traffic links

The northern ring road with connections for local and long-distance traffic via the three national motorway networks of France, Germany and Switzerland provides optimal access to the Grand Casino. This new, compact, red-colored casino building is located on the roundabout just next to the exit to the airport. It is a valuable addition to this border region, giving the rather peripheral and to date unattractive area where also the refuse incineration plant and the Psychiatric University Clinic (PUK) are located a new and bright face. This, it may be hoped, will serve as a signal for the vicinity.

Some key data on the building and the building materials
Construction time: 21 months
Concrete: 12,500 m3
Steel: 1300 metric tons
Formwork area: 50,000 m2
Painted area: 30,000 m2
Number of corings: 1500
Electric cabling: 460 km
Water lines: 3 km
Waste water lines: 2 km
Sprinkler lines: 4.5 km
Maximum fresh air supply: 320,000 m3/h