Founding and Historical Background<span style="color:#000000"> </span>

Burckhardt Architekten SIA was founded in 1951 by Karl August Burckhardt-Koechlin, his son Martin Heinrich, and his son’s friend Karl Eckert. As equal partners, the three architects created a sound basis for many years of successful teamwork, which drew much of its character from Martin Heinrich Burckhardt as a founding figure, design creator, and well-known personality in Basel. Seven employees rounded off the team: Hans Augsburger, Max Baur, Hans Bernhard, Hanspeter Häring, Paul Held, Jakob Stäheli, and apprentice Günter Messmer.

The new company was born out of the former Burckhardt, Wenk & Cie. office partnership, which Karl August Burckhardt-Koechlin and Otto Wenk had founded in 1909 and managed until 1935. A rich legacy grew out of this prehistory and the much deeper roots of the old-established Basel Burckhardt family that tap into the cultural and architectural history of the city. 

The Burckhardt family history goes back to the 15th century, and their involvement in architecture can be traced from the founding of the firm in 1951 all the way back to the 19th century and to Melchior Berri-Burckhardt (1801–1854) and Emanuel La Roche-Heusler (1863–1922). Berri, who studied in Karlsruhe and Paris, was considered one of the best Swiss architects of his time alongside Johann Jakob Stehlin, Amadeus Merian, and Christoph Riggenbach. He created outstanding late classicist works during the first half of the 19th century. Arnold Böcklin is said to have described him as the only artist among Swiss architects. Besides his well-known Basel buildings such as the Museum an der Augustinergasse, which today houses the Basel Natural History Museum, and the Stadtcasino, in 1928, he also built a residential and commercial building with a studio and workshop at Malzgasse 16 that still exists today. In addition to the new casino building and numerous residential buildings and villas, he created complete interiors. Although Berri is also well-known outside Basel for his buildings, he is probably even most famous for his design of the «Basler Dybli» – the world’s first colored stamp. After Berri’s death in 1854, his widow assumed management of the company.

Emanuel La Roche, on the other hand, was trained as an engraver and sculptor at the Polytechnic in Stuttgart. He worked as a designer with several versed architects and received numerous public commissions, including the construction of Basel University Library and the Federal Railway Station, along with various school, residential, and commercial buildings. 

In 1890, Emanuel La Roche and Adolf Staehelin took over Berri’s company on Malzgasse and founded La Roche, Staehelin & Cie., which built the first headquarters of the BIS (Bank for International Settlements) and the Grand Hôtel de l’Univers on Centralbahnplatz, to name just two. After Staehelin’s death in 1928, the company was transferred to the architecture and construction business Burckhardt, Wenk & Cie., where Otto Wenk, Wolfgang Wenk, and Karl August Burckhardt-Koechlin had been running an office partnership since 1909. Karl Burckhardt was already 71 years old when he left the firm in 1951 to found Burckhardt Architekten SIA together with his son Martin and Karl Eckert.