Westside Berne / Switzerland: 300-Million Euro Expensive Shopping and Leisure Complex Inaugurated

The leisure and shopping centre “Westside” opened on the 8th of October in Berne-Brünnen. Around 800 flats are also integrated in the complex. Westside itself is home to roughly 55 specialised dealers and boutiques, ten restaurants and bars, a multiplex cinema with eleven theatres, a hotel with 144 rooms, eleven seminar rooms and the “Bernaqua”, the biggest recreational pool and spa in Switzerland. Up until its completion, Westside was the largest private building project in Switzerland with an investment sum of about 500 million Swiss francs (more than 300 million euros). With Westside, the New Yorker architect Daniel Libeskind created his first commercially used building—in the media he had become known mainly for his victorious competitive draft for Ground Zero in New York, as well as the Jewish Museum in Berlin. More than 250,000 visitors were counted during the first week after the shopping temple’s grand opening. To cope with the unexpectedly high number of visitors, additional trains and buses to Berne-Brünnen had to be deployed. According to the company’s own information, around 20,000 to 25,000 guests now visit Westside each day. One downer to the successful start: A few days after the new leisure and shopping centre opened, several ceiling panels came loose at the McDonald’s restaurant. The elements fell to the floor, injuring two children. (eap)