In the sense of “cautious urban renewal” [Hardt-Waltherr Hämer], the heterogeneous urban fabric with its series of solitary fragments of edge-defining city blocks and open spaces pre-existing between St. Johanns-Tor and Hüningerstrasse on the eastern side of Elsässerstrasse is picked up on and contrasted with the urbanistically homogenous structure on the western side of Elsässerstrasse. The positioning of the new solitary volume not only creates a sunny, noise-diminished exterior space called Cour St. Louis facing Elsässerstrasse featuring an appropriate public character and good potential for social integration, but also an intimate, luxuriously green garden space to the east. This special urbanistic disposition is the focal point of the project and serves to integrate all components of the program in a natural way. The subtly situated building volume–evoking the buildings of Rudolf Linder, which strongly define the City of Basel–establishes differentiated and precise relationships to the existing building substance.