Draft:Martin Burckhardt (Architect)

Martin Burckhardt (also Burckhardt-Henrici; * 5 March 1921 in Basel; † 6 February 2007 ibid.) was a Swiss architect, politician (LDP) and patron of the arts.

Life

Martin Heinrich Burckhardt, son of Karl August Burckhardt-Koechlin (1879-1960), studied architecture at the ETH Zurich after attending school in Basel and graduated in 1945. In 1951, together with his father[1] and partner Karl Eckert, he founded the firm Burckhardt Architekten in Basel (Burckhardt+Partner since 1973). From 1970 he was also a lecturer and from 1979 to 1982 a professor at the EPFL in Lausanne. In the 1950s and 1960s, the firm established itself with numerous administrative and industrial buildings, primarily for the chemical industry and the banking sector. The firm opened branch offices in Berlin, Vienna, Paris, Mexico, Brazil, the United States and Australia, among others. He retired from the management of Burckhardt+Partner in 1990. In 2006, the firm was the largest Swiss architecture firm with 219 employees. Burckhardt built the University Biocentre in Basel from 1967 to 1970, the BIS-Tower of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) from 1972 to 1976 and the Nestlé Research Centre in Lausanne from 1980 to 1987.

Politics

Burckhardt was a member of the Basel Art Commission from 1955 to 1975. In 1961, he founded the Karl August Burckhardt-Koechlin Fund in memory of his father in order to acquire 20th century drawings, watercolours and gouaches for the Kupferstichkabinett of the Kunstmuseum Basel. From 1984 to 1988, he served as president of the Liberal Democratic Party of Basel. From 1976 to 1988 he was a member of the Grand Council of Basel-Stadt and from 1987 to 1991 a member of the Swiss National Council, where he was particularly active in the areas of education, culture and foreign policy. He was a member of the parliamentary reform committee and the committee for the 1992 World Expo in Seville.

His son is the historian of antiquity Leonhard Burckhardt (* 1953).

Works (Selection)

• Verwaltungsgebäude und Kantine, Geigy, Werk Rosental, Basel, 1954–66
• Warenhaus Pfauen, Coop, Basel, 1959–63
• Wasserstelzenschulhaus, Riehen, 1961–1964
• Fabrikations- und Lagergebäude, Thomi und Franck, Horburg, 1963–67
• Bürogebäude, Burckhardt Architekten, Basel, 1962–62
• Soleeindampfungsanlage, Rheinsalinen Schweizerhalle, Pratteln, 1965–66
• Hauptsitz Sandoz-France, Paris, Frankreich, 1965–68
• Hauptsitz Sandoz, São Paulo, Brasilien, 1965–68
• Aquarium und Vivarium, Zoologischer Garten Basel, 1967–69
• Laborgebäude Pharma und Farben, Sandoz, Basel, 1967–71
• Forschungszentrum Sandoz, Wien, 1967–70
• Biozentrum, Universität Basel, 1967–70
• Bürogebäude Sandoz, Barcelona, 1969–70
• Bank für Internationalen Zahlungsausgleich BIZ, Basel, 1972–76
• Forschungszentrum Nestlé Nahrungsmittel, Vers-chez-les-Blanc VD, 1980–87
• Verwaltungsgebäude Schweizerischer Bankverein, Basel, 1980–88
• Modehaus Spengler, Münchenstein, 1988–91
• Erweiterungsgebäude Universität Zürich, 3. und 4. Etappe, 1989–94, 1992–97
• Informatikgebäude R-1008 der Ciba-Geigy, Basel 1989–91
• Alters- und Pflegeheim Schöntal, Füllinsdorf 1990–91
• Bogn Engiadina, Therme, Scuols 1990–92
• Bürogebäude Hatt-Haller AG, Dietikon 1991–94
• Radio Studio, Zürich, Um- und Neubau 1992–94
• Verwaltungsgebäude Basler Lebensversicherung, 1993–94
• Leonhard-Schulhaus, Basel 1995–98

Bibliography

• Dorothee Huber: Burckhard und Partner. In: Isabelle Rucki und Dorothee Huber (Hrsg.): Architektenlexikon der Schweiz – 19./20. Jahrhundert. Birkhäuser, Basel 1998. ISBN 3-7643-5261-2. S. 105
• Christian Felber: Ein Architekt und Mäzen alter Schule. In: Basler Stadtbuch 2007, S. 107–108.

Links

• Publikationen von und über Martin Burckhardt (Architect) im Katalog Helveticat der Schweizerischen Nationalbibliothek
• Literature by and about Martin Burckhardt (Architect) in the German National Library catalogue
• Burckhardt, Martin in German, French and Italian in the online Historical Dictionary of Switzerland.
• Martin Burckhardt at archINFORM