Learning from the Swiss Reflections after nine months in Basel

Sarah Cremin

Switzerland, land of watches, chocolate, cheese, trains, precision. Island nation within mainland Europe. Land of breath-taking mountains, meadows, flowers, economic and cultural security. Land of laws that vary from canton to canton. In Basel stadt it is illegal to do laundry on Sundays (apartment buildings), it is difficult to buy a bottle of milk after six in the evening, the shops are closed at lunchtime, bicycle insurance is mandatory, heroin is distributed freely each day. One can swim in the river Rhine in summertime and wander through town half naked, picnic in a meadow, take the train to Paris or Milan, shop in a French hypermarch� minutes from home, cycle to Gehry�s museum building at Vitra in Germany via Renzo Piano�s Beyeler Foundation, draw inspiration from the annual art fair.

Basel, population 200,000, situated at the North West corner of Switzerland with the Black Forest to the North and the Jura mountains to the South, is a mixture of medieval charm and modern industry. Steam from the petrochemical factories gives the wind direction on any day. In fact the wind usually blows towards France and Germany. This is not postcard Switzerland. The river Rhine flows downstream to the North Sea. Giant barges coexist alongside row boats, swimmers, skiers, floating hotels. The river scale is urban. It suggests a larger city. The river banks are dominated by containers and tall chimneys rising above the chemical plants of Ciba, Novartis and Roche juxtaposed with medieval bridges and spires.

Proximity to the French and German borders distinguishes Basel from other Swiss cities of similar size (Zurich and Geneva). Basel looks inward to Switzerland and outward to �Europe�. Europe meaning the bordering EU nations that provide a continuous influx of money, labour, cars and culture. Inclusion of the French and German hinterlands swells the population to 2 million.

Whatever cultural blurring occurs with neighbouring France and Germany is quickly dissipated on arrival in Basel. Neither French nor German is spoken. Rather Basler Deutsch, the city�s unique dialect. The recognisable symbols of a Swiss town are present: the kiosk (newsagent), die Post (Post Office), Swisscom (telephone company), Migros (supermarket), a clock at every tram stop. The Swiss cross, ubiqitous emblem of Switzerland on every imaginable surface, from flag to sandwich wrapper to manhole cover. Think Swiss Army, Swatch, Swiss Air, Cross Air. There is no confusion about the origin of these products. There is a constant reassertion of identity to mitigate cultural confusion.

On March 15, Basel�s new football stadium, or joggeli as it is affectionately known, held its inaugural game. Basel FC vs. FC Lausanne. 40,000 fans. I was a lucky ticket holder. The tram from town was packed but orderly. The giant translucent bubble wrap fa�ade (made of plastic dome skylights) glowed pinkish red. First view of the playing field inside. Intense green, oxygen-fed grass. The undercroft of the concrete terraces painted fire engine red. As the blue seats filled, red and blue flags fluttered. The team colours. The game began. Despite the mediocre play there was palpable excitement. Beer and wurst. People stood and stared and screamed. A draw.

It was my second experience of collective emotion in Basel. The first was Fasnacht, Basel�s annual carnival. The joggeli was depicted in miniature on this year�s plakette, the carnival badge sold to fund the festivities. The plakette changes each year and typically celebrates the city�s most significant event.

Fasnacht, night of fasting, begins the first Monday of lent. It starts in darkness at 4.00am with Morgenstreich, a procession of lanterns, drums and piccolos and ends at 4.00am the following Thursday. For three long days and nights the city is transformed. Costumed bands wander through the medieval streets playing flutes and drums and scattering confetti. It is the culmination of a year�s preparation. There are processions, recitations of satirical songs and poems (Schnitzelbanke), a display of giant lanterns, special food such as mehlsuppe (flour soup) and onion tarts. The lanterns are lit with gas and covered with drawings and cartoons that chronicle the preceding year. The Kostum is a fancy dress disguise that covers the whole body. Painted faces or half-masks are taboo in Basel. Despite the colourful costumes, beer drinking, the delirium of sleepless nights, the celebration remains sober and controlled. The city is also transformed architecturally. Public spaces are filled with music and people. The ground is covered with a carpet of confetti. Musty cellars are opened to the public. The street lights are switched off in the medieval town.

Basel�s Fasnacht celebration is the largest in Switzerland. Is there a greater need here to express a cultural identity distinct from neighbouring France and Germany? Local lore recounts that Protestant Baslers chose a date after the beginning of lent to provoke their Catholic neighbours.

During Fasnacht the individual appears as satirist only behind an anonymous mask that conceals identity. Only then does extreme Swiss reserve find an external expression. The criticisms and commentary from an entire year are compressed into three days� activities.

It seems natural that the Swiss should be obsessed with the notion of fa�ade.

Basel�s Fasnacht is one of the few carnivals that survives in its original form since medieval times. The earliest extant mention dates from 1376. Fasnacht is for Baslers. In fact language and local references make it largely incomprehensible to outsiders. Perhaps it endures and retains its vitality because it still fulfills a role, unlike more overtly religious carnivals made anachronistic by media-obsessed, areligious societies.

In Switzerland there is little toleration of waywardness. In fact every Swiss citizen perceives himself as a guardian of general well being and undertakes the policing of his world. Swiss apartment buildings or homes rarely exhibit the occupants� idiosyncrasies.

In this context architecture is an important public representation. It is understood as such. Architecture has high profile in Switzerland. The 10 franc bank note (5 pounds) depicts Le Corbusier and his modular system. In Basel there is great civic pride in the new football stadium and its local designers, Herzog & de Meuron. Even before completion it had entered the public psyche. It was legitimised by its depiction on the plakette months before the official inauguration (planned for the beginning of September, 2001).

Basel is equally proud of its new and old architecture. A recent advertisement for the city carried a photograph of the skylights of Herzog & de Meuron�s railway engine depot Auf dem Wolf. Industry in Basel has consistently gained cultural legitimacy through art patronage. Hoffmann-La Roche has built itself a compound of high quality buildings. This year a new laboratory and training building was completed by Herzog & de Meuron. The Ricola sweet emporium has done likewise.

Even Migros, Switzerland�s dominant supermarket chain, embraces architecture. Founded in 1925, the chain stocks Swiss produce almost exclusively, reminiscent of the Buy Irish campaign of times past. Such favourite local products as Rivella (a fizzy drink made with milk serum) metamorphose to Mivella, Frigor chocolate to Midor. In Basel several supermarkets are in notable buildings by architects Diener and Diener.

Preoccupation with fa�ade seems natural for a country where there is great emphasis on civic obedience. Until recently, applicants for Swiss citizenship were tested not only on Swiss history and culture, but also on their ability to cook a fondue and keep a clean homestead. Or so the myth goes.

August 1st is Switzerland�s national day, only recently celebrated as a federal bank holiday. Flags are draped across every fa�ade in town. Will this be Basel�s third public outing this year? I look forward to another Swiss celebration.

Sarah Cremin works as an architect for Herzog & de Meuron in Basel