Objekt 2430
Missed opportunity
Description
The Wettsteinbrücke was opened in 1879 as the second bridge over the Rhine and greatly widened in 1939. Plans to rebuild the bridge have existed since the 1970s and in 1990 the project conceived by architects Bischoff & Rüegg was put to the vote of Basel residents. However, besides this, there was also an aesthetically pleasing design by the architect Santiago Calatrava, which was promoted by private parties. Yet the acceptance of the official project meant any chance of a Calatrava-designed bridge was off the table. What remains is the architectural model that was made for the contested referendum.
Object description
Model of the new Wettsteinbrücke
designer: Santiago Calatrava
manufacturer: Dumeng Raffainer (1942–2005), Modellbau Zaborowsky, Zurich
Zurich/Basel, 1988
wood, various plastics, mirror glass, metal
donated by Ronald Grisard, Basel
Inv. 2007.371.