Printing centre Basler Zeitung

The “Basler Zeitung”, Basel’s daily newspaper, decided in 2001 to adjust its range of equipment and its logistics to current market needs at its present site “an der Wiese”.

Step by step, the heavy rotary machines and the technical installations of the shipping section were complemented and replaced. The company, which produces about six million newspaper products per calendar year, maintained its ongoing operations without interruption.

First, the medium-bay warehouse built in 1987 was torn down. It was replaced by a new building standing cross-wise to the existing hall housing the rotary presses and the production plant and parallel to the “Riehenring” street.

The transverse wing with three sections consists of

• the paper delivery area with an automatic warehouse above it,
• the hall for the new rotary presses with a predominantly vertical structure; it comprises the reel basement with 11 reel changers in the final construction phase and the rotary machine above it with as many as six machine levels, and
• the extension of the shipping section with the associated ancillary and technical areas.

The most marked building unit – the new rotary press hall – has a surface area measuring about 13 by 56 meters and a height of about 23 meters; it is a steel structure with continuous glazing on the side facing the street. The insight and outlook thus created allow passers-by to follow newspaper printing activities from the outside. It also enables the roughly 1000-tonne rotary presses to be entered into the building; and it lets natural daylight flow into the building from the north.

The remaining building shell is designed as a metal facade with internal coffering for receiving the thermal insulation with additional insulation and ventilated, vertically installed trapezoidal sheet.
On the roof of the rotary press hall, a photovoltaic system has been installed; the remaining roof areas are covered by plants.