Basel Museum of Art
Extension work on this historical museum using Mapei products to meet Swiss standards for eco-sustainability.
For lovers of contemporary art or, more importantly, of culture in general, Basel is a city not to be missed, with an extraordinary wealth of museums, exhibition centres and foundations dedicated to art, where the actual containers used to house the exhibitions are works of art in themselves.
Amongst such buildings, one that really stands out, for its tradition and the importance of the works on display, is the Basel Museum of Art (Kunstmuseum Basel), which in 2013 was voted the fifth best museum in the world by the British newspaper The Times.
This museum boasts the most antique public art collection in the world, with breathtaking works from the Renaissance era up to the historical Avant-Garde period, from Arnold Böcklin to Van Gogh, Gauguin and Picasso, with more than 4,000 paintings, sculptures, drawings, installations and videos.
The Kunstmuseum Basel was extended in the middle of April 2016: with the opening of the underground passageway connecting the main building to the new extension, designed by the Basel architects Christ & Gantenbein, the precious works of art now have around one third more exhibition space, within an architectonic context of the utmost sophistication.
The main building now exhibits works dating from the XV Century up to 1960, while the new area (2,750 m2) is home for temporary exhibitions and works created between 1960 and 1990.
HIGH-PERFORMANCE ECO-SUSTAINABLE PRODUCTS
Mapei Suisse SA, the Swiss subsidiary of Mapei Group, was present on site with their engineers and products while construction work on the new building was being carried out.
To block the residual damp in the cementitious substrates, the surfaces were preliminarily treated with two coats of PRIMER MF EC PLUS two-component, solvent-free, low-viscosity primer with very low emission of volatile organic compounds.
PRIMER MF EC PLUS was chosen because it has no problem resisting up to 5% of residual moisture, while guaranteeing excellent adhesion for the filler materials which were applied later. The primer was then broadcast with QUARTZ 0.5 while it was still wet.
More than 2,000 m2 of surfaces were smoothed over with ULTRAPLAN MAXI self-levelling, ultra rapid-hardening smoothing compound, which was applied in layers up to 10 mm thick.
INSTALLATION OF PARQUET
Once the substrate had been completed, work began on the installation of solid oak parquet flooring.
ULTRABOND ECO P909 2K was used for this operation, a two-component, solvent-free adhesive with very low emission of volatile organic compounds (EMICODE EC1 R Plus).
This product was chosen because it is particularly suitable for bonding large planks of solid wood and for its good initial and final adhesion properties. ULTRABOND ECO P909 2K also allows the requirements to be met for parquet installed in areas with a high volume of visitors.
The Mapei products used in the new building for the Basel Museum of Art comply with eco-sustainability standards specified by Minergie-Eco, a common project borned from the two associations Minergie and eco-bau. Minergie-Eco completes from one side the Minergie label, that focuses on energy efficiency and comfort, through health and environmental building requirements. From the other side, thanks to the eco-bau contribute, it offers dedicated product certifications.
Mapei Suisse is pioneer in this field, with more than 80 products which have received the eco-bau certifications - and the only one boasting so many products in different product categories and selling sectors.
