The heart of Swiss bathroom culture has been beating here since 1892. It is now incorporated in a visitor and presentation centre, built in an unconventional architectural style. The LAUFEN Forum is a brand statement in one piece of concrete – without a single window. A place devoted to bathrooms and a source of inspiration and information for builders, architects, retailers and tradesmen.

CONCEPT 2009

The building has a clearly defined concept. It is a meeting place dedicated to the LAUFEN brand. It includes a spacious section for exhibitions, test bathrooms and an area for training and presentations. The impressive 6,500 cubic metre large structure on Wahlenstrasse aims to offer a range of facilities and satisfy a variety of demands. Basel architect’s office Nissen & Wentzlaff designed the two-storey, made of exposed concrete virtually throughout. Viewed from the outside the building looks like a receptacle.

And that is not far off the mark. When visitors walk around the building, or from a bird’s eye view, the building ultimately reveals itself to be a scaled replica of a familiar LAUFEN ceramic washbasin. Symbolically the building was cast in one piece exactly like its ceramic model. Unlike the product, the building does not contain water but the company’s products.

NEW MULTI-LEVEL JOURNEY

In 2024, Snohetta has masterfully reimagined the interior, crafting a multi-level journey through the entire LAUFEN collection. The tactile allure of clay and brass, provides a backdrop to the LAUFEN bathroom collections which have been assigned distinctive signature colours within individual room settings.

The dedication to material lifecycle is a shared ethos between LAUFEN and Norwegian transdisciplinary studio Snøhetta, which has placed sustainability in architecture and a sensitive approach to landscape and resources at the centre of its work since its foundation in 1989.

LAUFEN has embarked on a multi-disciplinary exploration with Snøhetta, involving not just architecture but also a new way of communicating and understanding the brand universe. Previous collaborations include LAUFEN space Vienna and the brand presentation Matter at Salone del Mobile 2024 in Milan.