EUROPE – Swiss-based organiser MCH claims its redeveloped Basel Exhibition Center is the largest investment ever made in the Swiss trade show industry, at a cost of US$457.9m.
After five years of development and planning and three years of construction, general contractor HRS Real Estate AG handed the new hall over to the organiser on 8 February 2013, “on schedule and on budget”.
“The new hall complex is also an impressive architectural hallmark,” said MCH CEO Rene Kamm. “The covered area featuring the distinctive atrium, or the so-called City Lounge, not only marks the entrance to the different shows and events but is also designed to become a public meeting place.”
The new hall complex is 220m long, 90m wide and 32m high and provides a total of 38,000sqm of exhibition space on the ground floor and the two upper storeys that span the exhibition square. The expansion increases the venue's overall exhibition space to 141,000sqm, and now features a green roof with solar panels.
The new building developed by architects Herzog & de Meuron is now connected to the Basel Congress Center and enables the city to host events with around 5,000 delegates.
“With this new building we have created a magnificent hull, but it is just a hull. It will only accomplish its real purpose when the events take place in it and the exhibiting companies and visitors gather under its roof,” Kamm said.
MCH launched the new hall complex at the opening of its world watch and jewellery show Baselworld 2013. Back in 2011, thieves escaped during the diamond show with four diamonds worth millions of dollars.
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