The Pantone Corridor will remain in Basel – and will be rebuilt

University Hospital says it all: “The ghost of Verner Panton should not disappear from the underground at the University Hospital Basel,” the USB Communications Department announced in a media release on Tuesday. What linguistically sounds like Halloween marks the long-awaited end to the tremors surrounding the future of Panton Corridor, which, although demolished, will also be brought to life in a new form on the hospital grounds.

As the existing colorful artisanal corridor by the Danish designer and architect, who died in 1998, has to make way for the new building of Klinikum 2, the original work will be documented in detail before it is dismantled and reconstructed in a reopened entrance from Hebelstrasse to the parking garage, the University Hospital continues. . For this purpose, photographs and videos will be produced to accurately determine and record color tones.

New construction with added value

An accompanying group, including, among others, the architect Pierre de Meuron, the Vitra Design Museum, the cantonal monuments conservation agency, as well as a scenography and interior design company, has found a way to reconstruct the work in the immediate vicinity. “This takes place upon pedestrian arrival from Heppelstraße, which will be reopened,” the media release said. The floor design originally planned by Verner Panton will also be added there.

The USB says the current corridor containing the original work will be available until July 2024, and the new Panton corridor will be open to visitors from then on. “The costs of revitalizing the new corridor will be borne jointly by the University Hospital Basel and Immobilien Basel as parking garage operator. The color design can be implemented at no cost since the previously planned design has been cancelled.” The new access from Petersgraben to the parking garage is planned within 15 years.

“Great joy and pride”

This finally provides clarification regarding the artwork in the access tunnel to the parking garage of the University Hospital Basel, which was created by Dane, who lived temporarily in Basel, in 1978. When news of the demolition became known last spring, it caused regret and consternation in internal security circles and among Art lovers: The Vitra Design Museum, which is in close contact with the Panton family, has asked for the passage to be preserved, and has created a petition called for the same.

After the university hospital raised initial hopes and assigned a work team to find “appropriate solutions,” things remained calm for months. Only a month and a half ago, in response to repeated inquiries, the only response was that the issue surrounding the Panton Corridor was “in progress.”

Karen Panton, the designer’s daughter, is very satisfied with the solution now found. “The fact that my father’s artistically important work is still located in a central location in the heart of Basel and, by incorporating the floor into the design, is more in keeping with Verner Panton’s original design than the former hospital corridor, fills my mother with great joy and pride. ».