BaselWorld 2013 Hall 1 Architecture Review

BaselWorld Experience 2: The Hall of the Giants
DonC, May 2013

Hall 1 of the Basel Fair has always been the hall of the big brands and the big stands.  With the rebuilding and enlargement of the hall the brands have been forced to build new larger stands too.  Some brands have been able to greatly increase their visibility, such as Bulgari who have moved from a bunker in the cellar of Hall 4 to the front of Hall 1. 

Although I heard that there were many major architecture offices at work, IMHO their work was, let us say politely, only moderately successful.  As is the case for the Hall 1 building itself.  It seemed that most just tried to follow Chopard’s long time concept of recreating a store at the fair.  Unfortunately with less success than Chopard.  Chopard always had, and the new stand is also, a welcoming store, with windows and a welcoming entrance.  (They did not recreate the magnificent parquet floor of the old stand though, a real loss.)
Unfortunately a good portion of the big stands seem to be built around the concept of a big city store with small windows and a small, unwelcoming entry allowing only the invited guests in.

One of the few stands where the architects worthily earned their money is the Seiko stand.  An eary cloud, transparent and at the same time space filling turns out at closer inspection to be a cloud of watch movement plates suspended in air on long threads.  This creates a plastic volume without walls that attracts interest and guides one through the stand.  A big relief in comparison to the thick walled fortresses around it.

There is now less separation between the watches and jewelry portions of the fair, the floors of the new Hall 1 so enormous they flow into each other.  Of course among the jewelers the emphasis is completely on the aesthetics and the methods used for showcasing the products are top.

Have a look in the new Hall 1 in the video below:





This message has been edited by DonCorson on 2013-05-07 07:41:21