The project for the Swiss pharmaceuticals company Novartis is the result from the pursuit of the client's holistic vision. We approached the design as a fully integrated process from the inside out, combining sustainable design with sophisticated contemporary architecture.
The CEO of Novartis - Dr. Vasella - had commissioned the Italian urbanist, Vittorio Lampugnani to create a master plan for his proposed new campus in Basel, Switzerland. This master plan envisioned the different buildings being designed by a selection of international architects. Our project is located along the main pedestrian axis proposed by the master plan, adjacent to the campus green. It accommodates the company’s human resource department on campus.
Dr. Vasella‘s aspiration was to introduce an open-office culture to the campus, which was until then a very ‘closed’ work environment, with rows of sealed offices tucked behind opaque doors. Dr. Vasella believed that an open, fluid workplace would encourage social interaction and creative thinking within the company.
After exploring the pros and cons of a variety of schemes with the Novartis project development team, our proposal gradually evolved away from the conventional office typology towards a design aimed to encourage a sense of transparency.
We organized the building into four programmatic zones: 1) Two levels underground accommodating a learning center 2) An entry lobby and staff cafeteria at ground level 3) A 600-seat auditorium capable of being reconfigured into two 200-seat and 400-seat lecture halls 4) Open plan offices on the five upper levels. A central atrium connects each office level with a stairway as its focal point.
The typical office floor is articulated by the creation of a number of alcoves for small teams of four to six people, each designed to preserve the intimate feeling of private offices while maintaining a visual relationship with the adjoining spaces.
The exterior of the building is clad in glass. Full-height operable glass panels at ground level permit the cafeteria to open onto the adjacent campus green during the summer months.
We worked closely with German environmental consultants ‘Transsolar’ to develop a series of sustainable design principles. Highlights of these include: 1) The building’s glass curtain wall has a 50% ceramic frit to reduce direct solar gain 2) The roof incorporates translucent photovoltaic cells 3) An additional louver and sunshade system moderates solar gain and 4) The central atrium, together with two smaller atria on each side, help regulate internal air circulation.
The building’s interior spaces are clad with Douglas-fir wood panels offering a sense of warmth and intimacy.
The team worked with Swiss furniture company VITRA to develop a custom office furniture system intended to compliment the open office floor plans (see DESIGNS section). This furniture system is aimed to create an atmosphere of both casualness and efficiency.
The cafeteria is furnished with custom designed dining tables and serving areas (image on top). Glass panels on the ceiling of the auditorium provide illumination and enhance the acoustic qualities of the space below (image on bottom).
The design team incorporated plenty of smaller, more casual seating and meeting spaces for the staff throughout the offices (image on left). In the evenings, the fritted glass panels appear, from the inside, to be almost transparent (image in center). The secondary, interior structure, clad in wood, enhances privacy within each of the various office alcoves while allowing visual connections toward the central atrium (image on right).
Seen from the campus’ central pedestrian thoroughfare (image on left) and from the campus green (image on right), the exterior of our building fulfills its role as both an integral part of Professor Lampugnani’s original master plan while asserting its unique architectural qualities.
At night, even with the lights illuminating the interior, the building achieves the ‘zero energy’ target required by both Novartis, and by the exemplary Swiss building code.
Novartis’ project team wearing soccer jerseys - a gift from the client - photographed in front of the full size mock-up of the building’s façade system.
The projects in this section were designed and executed during my time at Gehry Partners LLP (the office). I am grateful to Mr. Gehry and the team at the office for their generosity and support over the years. All intellectual property rights of these projects continue to be owned by the office unless otherwise mentioned. The narrative texts on the projects are entirely personal, they do not represent the views or opinions of the office, its clients or any other third party or organization.