In the dark of the night, it looks like a UFO that has touched down on the banks of the Rhine in Basel. Not only its ring-shaped form stirs our imagination, but also the media facade's constantly changing light sequences seem like visual messages from distant galaxies. What kind of spaceship has landed here? The answer is rather earthly: pharmaceutical company Novartis has a new visitor pavilion intended as a place of learning, knowledge, and interaction. It is the first public building on the company's previously closed corporate campus, located on the northwestern edge of Basel. Since 2001 it has gradually evolved into a knowledge campus, featuring several buildings by renowned architects. With the pavilion open since spring 2022, the company now aims to make the topics of health and science accessible to a broad public.
The pavilion design by AMDL Circle, an architecture and design studio founded by Michele De Lucchi, was inspired by the symbolism of the circle, whose unifying and universal roundness conveys a spirit of openness. The ring-shaped plan is laid out on two levels. The lower entrance floor holds a foyer, café, and two informal, flexible rooms that can be separated by curtains for events and tour groups. Two staircases lead to a multimedia theatre with seating steps, and then on to the upper exhibition level, a flowing, partition-free space. Here, the exhibition "Wonders of Medicine", designed by Atelier Brückner, invites visitors to explore an immersive experience with different room installations. The materials - light grey terrazzo flooring and white glazed wood surfaces - create a bright, friendly atmosphere.
But the eye-catcher is undoubtedly the media facade, which covers the biomorphic building as a semi-transparent membrane. According to iart, who designed the facade, it was inspired by cell networks. The outer facade layer is composed of rhombus-shaped solar modules with embedded LEDs. These shine both away from the building and back towards the metal building shell behind them. The resulting light reflections create a shimmering projection screen for diverse contents. The facade consumes only as much electrical energy as it is capable of producing itself. Its approximately 10,000 organic carbon-based solar modules are flexible, translucent, and highly light-sensitive. This makes their use worthwhile even in places that do not directly face the sun. During the day, the high-tech facade is only subtly illuminated and displays moving text. But all its skills are on display after sunset: for up to two hours, the building shell transforms into a glowing screen for animated artwork, transformed into a spectacular actor in the evening cityscape.
