Transformation in the best tradition

Transformation is nothing new for the Klybeck district. The present-day site with its trend-setting initiatives, research institutions and corporations was at one time alluvial land.

From the 1870s onwards, it came to house paint factories and eventually evolved into the focal point of Basel’s chemical industry. At times, over 7,000 people worked here in the research and development, manufacture and packaging of chemical and pharmaceutical products.

Over the past 150 or so years, the Klybeck site has undergone repeated transformations while making a crucial contribution to the city’s economic development. The buildings were adapted, extended or reconstructed to meet the changing needs. As a result, the site is now occupied by variously sized buildings from different periods.

In 2019, Swiss Life acquired that part of the Klybeck site that once housed BASF. Together with its planning partners – the Canton of Basel-Stadt and Rhystadt – Swiss Life is now redeveloping the former industrial site into a new sustainable and mixed-use urban quarter, scheduled for completion by 2040, with residential, work and leisure facilities.