2001 Pritzker Prize winners Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron designed this train station signal box in Basel, Switserland. The building has an exterior cladding of copper strips that are twisted at certain places to admit daylight. Copper plates are used to shield the signalling electronics inside from electromagnetic interference. In the Pritzker Prize essay it reads: “The task of [...] directing traffic acquires a beauty that transcends and singles them out amid their utilitarian progeny.” The position, the simpel shape and the elegant use of the properties of the material, that play with the light, turn this into a great piece of architecture. The twisted copper plates create a fascinating blur effect while still being functional. Aesthetics and function meet in this building.

I took these photographs in august 2008.