Radical Archaeology in Switzerland

Roman settlement excavation center Augusta Raurica

Radical Archaeology in Switzerland

Roman settlement excavation center Augusta Raurica

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    Roman settlement excavation center Augusta Raurica, Augst, Switzerland

    Pragmatic yet expressive, the building offers flexibility and a clear identity to a growing cultural institution that serves as a caretaker of Swiss heritage. A long, horizontal form floats above the ancient ruins, a single economical spatial system that allows for change and differentiation, while distributing weight evenly over a transfer plate. The linearity allows for ease of expansion and the assurance that at any given moment the building will appear complete.

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    Radical Archaeology in Switzerland

    Today, a team of some 60 workers - ranging from archeologists and researchers to office staff - use the building every day.

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    Roman settlement excavation center Augusta Raurica, Augst, Switzerland

    Visual transparency in the field condition promotes mutual awareness across the departments and builds a common identity for an institution that had been physically disaggregated for too long. The process from the discovery of an artefact to its eventual archiving in the collection becomes part of an exposed sequence of collaborations between departments that occupy this common grid.

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    Roman settlement excavation center Augusta Raurica, Augst, Switzerland

    The lightweight structure unifies a differentiated set of programs with a clear spatial character.

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    Radical Archaeology in Switzerland

    Another key consideration was its ability to store an ever-expanding collection of artifacts that today includes more than 1.7 million pieces.

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    Project Update, May 2021 – Radical Archaeology in Switzerland

    Ready to extend: The second phase of the building will be completed by the end of 2022. The corridors are provisionally closed off but will finally extend more than 100 meters spanning the entire complex.

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    Roman settlement excavation center Augusta Raurica, Augst, Switzerland

    Offices, workshops, small and large finds are distributed across a surface in a balancing of weight.

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    Roman settlement excavation center Augusta Raurica, Augst, Switzerland

    A single basic system produces a grand hall at the same time as more intimate spaces.

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    Roman settlement excavation center Augusta Raurica, Augst, Switzerland

    The de-familiarization of the industrial form finds value and new expression in everyday materials.

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    Radical Archaeology in Switzerland

    The building is flooded with natural light thanks to glass partitions that allow it to flow unhindered throughout the structure, and the roof is topped with solar panels that help achieve an energy surplus that doesn’t compromise on smart design aesthetics.

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    Roman settlement excavation center Augusta Raurica, Augst, Switzerland

    The horizontal layering of the façade is at once abstract and figurative.

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    Project Update, May 2021 – Radical Archaeology in Switzerland

    Ready to extend: The second phase of the building will be completed by the end of 2022. The corridors are provisionally closed off but will finally extend more than 100 meters spanning the entire complex.

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    Roman settlement excavation center Augusta Raurica, Augst, Switzerland

    Spatial specificity punctuates the field, offering functionality, transparency, and atmosphere.

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    Roman settlement excavation center Augusta Raurica, Augst, Switzerland

    Winner of a LafargeHolcim Awards Acknowledgement prize (l-r): Jeannette Kuo and Ünal Karamuk, architects, Karamuk Kuo Architects, Zurich, Switzerland.

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    Holcim Foundation Awards 2017 for Europe prize handover ceremony, Marseille

    Ünal Karamuk and Jeannette Kuo (l-r), Karamuk Kuo Architekten, Zurich - winners of an Awards Acknowledgement prize for Radical Archaeology: Roman settlement excavation center Augusta Raurica, Augst, Switzerland.

  • Awards Acknowledgement prize 2017–2018 Europe
Set within the storied landscape of Augusta Raurica, this archaeological center embodies a quiet radicalism—an architecture of respect, adaptability, and endurance. As the first dedicated headquarters for Switzerland’s largest Roman archaeological site, the building offers a dignified presence for a financially challenged cultural institution. Its flexible, understated form honours the gravity of the past while accommodating the unknowns of the future, allowing it to evolve alongside the archaeological work it supports.

By Ünal Karamuk - Karamuk Kuo Architects, Zurich, Switzerland; Jeannette Kuo - Harvard University, Graduate School of Design (GSD), Office for Urbanization, Cambridge, MA, USA

Completed in 2021, the center provides essential infrastructure for excavation and research at the Roman settlement of Augusta Raurica. A modular structural system enables diverse and shifting uses—supporting archives, laboratories, workshops, and offices. The architecture is deliberately restrained, prioritising longevity and environmental responsiveness while quietly enhancing the daily rhythms of those working to uncover and preserve ancient history.

Radical Archaeology in Switzerland

Project authors

Words with Winners

Augusta Raurica is Switzerland’s largest archaeological park. These well-preserved Roman ruins are found in the village of Augst, close to Basel, and draw in some 150,000 visitors each year. In 2014, it was decided that this important cultural site needed one unified structure to house the offices, preservation laboratories, workshops and storage facilities which, at the time, were scattered between various buildings across the site. A competition was held, and the winners were Zurich-based architecture firm Karamuk Kuo Architects.

Archaeological Center Augusta Raurica, Switzerland by Karamuk Kuo Architects

An archaeological center for Roman ruins in Augusta Raurica, Switzerland, finds a flexible structural system to meet diverse uses and adapt as they change over time.

The studio was set up in 2010 by Ünal Karamuk and Jeannette Kuo (pictured). They set about drawing up plans for the new building at Augusta Raurica, creating a design centered around the principles of flexible architecture. The plan was to create a structure that would prove an efficient workspace, archive and exhibition gallery and its sustainability credentials were recognised in 2017 when it was recognized in the Holcim Foundation Awards. “It was really the idea of using multiple factors that contribute to a sustainable building. From the lightweight steel structure to the simple ventilation systems that still allow a high level of comfort,” says Ünal Karamuk.

  • We looked at sustainability holistically - and weren’t focussed on one specific aspect, such as material efficiency or technological sustainability.

    Ünal Karamuk | Karamuk Kuo Architects, Switzerland

Jury Appraisal

“Sustainability through adaptability”

Part workspace, part archive, part exhibition, the archaeological excavation center presents the first headquarters for a significant yet financially challenged cultural institution safeguarding the largest Roman site in Switzerland. Offices, restoration labs, workshops, and storage, previously dispersed in various buildings, are united within a robust and economical spatial system that emphasizes visual transparency and a common identity. Equally pragmatic as it is expressive, the lightweight steel structure balanced on top of ancient ruins provides a continuous and flexible field condition that anticipates future change and growth. Low-tech solutions are favored over high-tech construction.

Roman settlement excavation center Augusta Raurica, Augst, Switzerland

Visual transparency in the field condition promotes mutual awareness across the departments and builds a common identity for an institution that had been physically disaggregated for too long. The process from the discovery of an artefact to its eventual archiving in the collection becomes part of an exposed sequence of collaborations between departments that occupy this common grid.

The building hovers in the landscape, an abstract archaic form that is as familiar as it is foreign. A handsome, flexible structure succeeds – through a few clever tweaks – to appropriately house many uses. Doing so brings together disparate parts of the archaeological process, fostering coordination and collegiality. The jury was impressed by the structural system that allows the building to adapt to new functions as the Center’s needs change – a sustainability through adaptability.

Project updates

May 06, 2021 | Project Update | Augst, Switzerland

Flexible Architecture to Meet Diverse Uses

Project Update, May 2021 – Radical Archaeology in Switzerland

A new archaeological center in Augusta Raurica, Switzerland—the country’s largest Roman excavation site—shows how flexible architecture can support cultural heritage and future adaptability. Completed in 2021, the building provides essential infrastructure for excavation and research while accommodating a range of changing uses. With its modular structural system, the project embraces a low-tech, resource-efficient approach, offering a model for architecture that is resilient, restrained, and responsive to evolving needs.

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September 26, 2018 | Project Celebration | Augst, Switzerland

“An Honor For All of Us”

Project celebration September 2018 – Radical Archaeology in Switzerland

In an interview marking the success of their project Dryline: Urban Flood Protection Infrastructure for New York City, members of the winning team reflect on the broader significance of receiving the Holcim Awards Gold. They describe the prize as recognition not just of their work, but of the collective efforts of communities, designers, and public agencies striving to make cities more resilient. The award affirms the importance of socially inclusive and climate-responsive design in addressing the complex challenges facing urban environments today.

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September 28, 2017 | Winners of the Holcim Awards 2017 for Europe | Marseille, France

Sustainability – systematic and multi-functional

LafargeHolcim Awards 2017 for Europe prize handover ceremony, Marseille

The days when the sustainability of a construction project was a matter of ad hoc measures are over – sustainable construction has become systematic and specific. This was emphatically shown by the results of the Holcim Awards in region Europe: Karamuk KuoArchitekten in Zurich have planned sustainable flexibility into their design of an excavation center at Roman archaeological site Augusta Raurica in Switzerland.

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Statements on Sustainability

  • The ability of the building to adapt with the changing needs of the future is central to the concept of the project. The collection of artifacts, currently at 1.7 million, grows daily. At the same time, the nature of the different departments—from archaeology and conservation to research and marketing—has also evolved and will continue to do so as new technologies and working methods become available. An organisational system of alternating structural bands allows individual rooms to expand or contract while ensuring clear circulation for people, artifacts, and technical services. The linearity of the system allows the construction to be easily phased and extended over time while always appearing complete at any given moment.

  • The robust industrial character, celebrating storage as display, gives the institution a clear identity despite its financial constraints. Ordinary, durable materials like corrugated steel are elevated into expressive surfaces. Inside, the lightweight steel structure and tectonic assembly provide spatial expression and allow for easy disassembly, adaptation, and recycling. In the two-storey office and research area, voids and clerestories bring light and fresh air into the deep floor plate, lowering energy consumption. A combination of natural and passive ventilation of the offices through a pressurised corridor, as well as discrete climate zones for the artifacts, results in a compact and efficient mechanical system despite the building’s depth.

  • Our history and culture define us as a people, and institutions like this exist to give us common ground. Its impact is both local and national, providing public programs for schools and families that also support the local economy. Yet Augusta Raurica is currently facing severe budget limitations as politicians debate the necessity of funding “old rocks.” Their current situation—departments dispersed in various substandard spaces across town—limits their ability to function, putting the artifacts and the institution at risk. The project provides not only an internal identity for the institution, fostering formal and informal exchanges necessary for a shared mission, but also a face to the outside, presenting it as a depository of cultural goods and an anchor for the local community.

Related information

Related information

Location

pin Augst, Switzerland

Augst, Switzerland

News

Project Update, May 2021 – Radical Archaeology in Switzerland

Project Update

Flexible architecture to meet diverse uses

Augst, Switzerland

Project celebration September 2018 – Radical Archaeology in Switzerland

Project Celebration

“The LafargeHolcim Awards prize is an honor for all of us”

Augst, Switzerland

Holcim Awards 2017 for Europe prize handover ceremony, Marseille

Winners of the Holcim Awards 2017 for Europe

Sustainability – systematic and multi-functional

Marseille, France

Videos

Archaeological Center Augusta Raurica, Switzerland by Karamuk Kuo Architects

An archaeological center for Roman ruins in Augusta Raurica, Switzerland, finds a flexible structural system to meet diverse uses and adapt as they change over time.

Archaeological Center Augusta Raurica, Switzerland by Karamuk Kuo Architects

An archaeological center for Roman ruins in Augusta Raurica, Switzerland, finds a flexible structural system to meet diverse uses and adapt as they change over time.

“Building a Global Network: Jeannette Kuo on the Holcim Foundation Awards”

Jeannette Kuo of Karamuk Kuo Architects reflects on the significance of winning a Holcim Awards prize for their flexible, sustainable design of the Archaeological Center at Augusta Raurica, Switzerland.

“Building a Global Network: Jeannette Kuo on the Holcim Foundation Awards”

Jeannette Kuo of Karamuk Kuo Architects reflects on the significance of winning a Holcim Awards prize for their flexible, sustainable design of the Archaeological Center at Augusta Raurica, Switzerland.

Radical Archaeology: Acknowledgement 2017 Europe – Project Overview

Roman settlement excavation center Augusta Raurica, Augst, Switzerland: An archaeological center for Roman ruins finds a flexible structural system to meet diverse uses and adapt as they change over time.By Ünal Karamuk and Jeannette Kuo, Karamuk Kuo Architekten, Zurich, Switzerland.

Radical Archaeology: Acknowledgement 2017 Europe – Project Overview

Roman settlement excavation center Augusta Raurica, Augst, Switzerland: An archaeological center for Roman ruins finds a flexible structural system to meet diverse uses and adapt as they change over time.By Ünal Karamuk and Jeannette Kuo, Karamuk Kuo Architekten, Zurich, Switzerland.