Aquila
Erected on Pratteln’s train station square, the high-rise building employs a well-established building type: the podium and tower. Providing spaces for offices and retail, the podium engages its immediate surroundings extending with its two cantilevering wings in a welcoming gesture towards the station. Rising on this socle is a 20-storey tower with 76 apartments. The result of very pragmatic studies to reduce the noise disturbance occasioned by the nearby railway, the silhouette of the high-rise serves as a captivating landmark in the city’s skyline. The polished metallic skin of the façade emphasizes the building’s sharp contours and embeds it within its industrial surroundings by reflecting a series of iconic industrial buildings along the railway. The fan-shaped floor plans of the apartments expand southwards from the northern access core. The parapets are built of wood – a rst time for such a high building in Switzerland – and comply with su- stainability measures.
