The large-scale commercial building has become one of the largest construction projects in Switzerland (150,000 sq. M. Area), and its opening was attended by the capital's mayor, who called the complex “the new wonder of Bern”. Westside, Libeskind's first completed shopping center (another one in Las Vegas is on its way) demonstrates the architect's characteristic "handwriting": angular volumes hide broken lines and unexpected turns of the interior, illuminated through slit-like openings in the ceilings. To give the building, designed for 3.5 million visitors a year, some softness, its facade is sheathed with wood. Inside, according to Libeskind, an imitation of a city has been created - a kind of new Bern with lanes and squares; the complex includes a shopping center proper with 55 shops, 10 cafes and bars, a hotel, a multiplex cinema, a water park and apartments. This combination of functions, according to the developers and the architect, should create a real city life in Westside with activity on the "streets" 24 hours a day. The new shopping center is also relevant for Bern because its opening completes a 10-year reconstruction of the section at the entrance to the city of the A1 highway, directly above which a new structure has been erected.
2024 Author: David Durham | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-01-09 00:52
