Nordstern

The club below the waterline

In the hull of a converted cargo ship, moored in the port of Kleinhüningen, the Nordstern dance floor is almost below the Rhine. It is not a set: the Expo Star, about 88 meters long, was emptied in the Netherlands and rebuilt to house a techno and house club on the lower deck, with a room-in-a-room concept designed so that the sound does not leak to the dock or the French shore of Huningue.

From the power plant to Westquaistrasse

The project started in 2000 in Basel as a workshop and room for the local cultural scene. It occupied an old power plant next to Voltaplatz, between St. Johann and the Novartis campus, for more than fifteen years. In 2010, it was renovated without erasing the industrial character. In 2016, the lease was not renewed and the team, with Agi Isaku, moved the club to a fixed ship at Westquaistrasse 19. The reopening on July 15, 2016, with The Martinez Brothers, closed the plant stage and opened the current Nordstern.

Bass in line on the dancefloor

WSDG and L-Acoustics define the venue as much as the programming. Decoupled walls, bass absorbers, floating floor, and highly absorbent ceiling make the steel a deaf room to the outside. Eight ARCS II at four points and six SB28 in a row over the dance floor concentrate the bass on the dancefloor and keep it away from the booth—prepared for vinyl—and the entrance. Carl Craig pointed to it as the club with the best sound he had ever played in.

Awards, line-up, and three decks

Sven Väth, Dixon, Marcel Dettmann, Solomun, Âme, or Ricardo Villalobos have passed through that dance floor. Nordstern accumulated Swiss Nightlife Awards—Best Club in 2014 and Best New Club in 2017, already on the ship—and in the international FAZEmag poll, it was third in the world in 2023 and 2025. The ship is organized into three decks: dark club below, multipurpose space at mid-height, and, above, a terrace and seasonal restaurant over the water. Fridays and Saturdays concentrate the nights; in summer, you drink and dance on deck and go down to the hold without changing address.