Gehry Partners, LLP - Novartis Campus, Basel, Switzerland

Features

Gehry Partners, LLP
Novartis Campus
Basel, Switzerland

Photo © Thomas Mayer

The Novartis building by Gehry Partners is part of the Masterplan for Novartis, designed by Vittorio Magnano Lampugnani, that will transform the St. Johann site, its headquarters in Basel, from an industrial complex to a campus of innovation, knowledge and encounter. The new campus will offer Novartis employees and visitors an environment for intensive levels of communication and work, which is ultra-modern, very functional, and aesthetically pleasing.

Photo © Thomas Mayer

The Gehry building occupies a central location with the Campus Green and the Novartis Headquarters located to the south of the building.

Photo © Thomas Mayer

The concept of openness, spaces flowing together, played a major factor in the design. The public areas, a restaurant and café, are located on the ground floor, which opens to the Campus Green. The Human Resources Departments occupy the five upper levels with a number of small public areas to encourage people to meet spontaneously for coffee or to hold informal meetings.

Photo © Thomas Mayer

Below ground is the Learning Factory for all campus employees, and a 600-seat auditorium with a glass ceiling and skylight connecting it to the Campus Green above. The auditorium can be divided into two separate rooms to hold simultaneous functions.

Photo © Thomas Mayer

A central atrium unites the building sections and reinforces visibility by allowing natural light to flow from the roof through all office floors and down to the underground levels where the auditorium lobby is located. The concept of openness and transparency is reinforced by the use of glass in the building’s exterior design.

Photo © Thomas Mayer

The large sail-like shades inside reduce solar gain and glare and operable windows and large sliding glass doors on the ground floor encourage natural ventilation on warm summer days.

Photo © Thomas Mayer

The development of the architecture and the materials used exemplifies Novartis’s commitment to the environment. To reduce direct solar heat gain the glass facades are coated with ceramic frits and the glass roof panels contain photovoltaic cells that generate the energy necessary to power artificial lighting for the building.

The long-term Masterplan by Vittorio Lampugnani includes not only architecture and landscaping but also functional, traffic-planning, and cultural considerations. The conversion will proceed in stages with the replacement of obsolete buildings taking place on a step by step basis. Other buildings on the campus are also by international architects. The campus landscape architects are Peter Walker and Günther Vogt Landscape Architects.

The Novartis Campus book
Publisher: Hatje Cantz Verlag

The 20 hectares site will eventually house a staff of 10,000 in the areas of Group Services, Pharmaceuticals, Research & Development, Marketing and Administration. The Novartis campus will be a pioneer of the high performance workplace.

Model photo courtesy Gehry Partners, LLP

Photo courtesy Gehry Partners, LLP
Novartis work space at Gehry Partners

Drawing courtesy Gehry Partners, LLP
Ground Floor Plan

Drawing courtesy Gehry Partners, LLP
Level One Plan

Drawing courtesy Gehry Partners, LLP
Typical Office Floor Plan

Drawing courtesy Gehry Partners, LLP
Auditorium Plan

Drawing courtesy Gehry Partners, LLP
Section

Site Area: 1,826 square meters
Floor area: 19,500 square meters

Completed 2009

Client: Novartis Pharma AG
Architects: Gehry Partners, LLP
Partner In Charge: Frank Gehry
Design Partner: Edwin Chan
Project Partner: Terry Bell
Project Manager /Architects:
Kamran Ardalan
Herwig Baumgartner
Principal Project Team:
Sven Neumann
Patricia Eva Schneider
Ron Tannenbaum
Narineh Mirzaeian
Manoucher Eslami
Vartan Chalikian
Schematic Design Project Team:
Joshua Morey
Yoram Lepair
Timothy Paulson
Frank Mahan
Earle Briggs
David Dorn
Andrew Fastman
Frank Weeks
Manuel Blanco-lonqueria
Lukas Raeber
Jeffery Garrett
Randolph D'amico

Executive Architect: Arcoplan / Nissen & Wentzlaff
Structural Engineer: Schlaich Bergermann und Partner
Facade Consultant: Emmer Pfenninger Partner AG
Mechanical Engineer: Aicher De Martin Zweng
Energy Consultant: Transsolar
Lighting Consultant: L’Observatoire
Acousticians: McKay Conant Brook Inc. & Gruner AG

Photographed by Thomas Mayer

Gehry Partners, LLP arcspace features

December 7, 2009