Story

Fabrikstrasse 22 houses a proprietary research and development facility established by Novartis on its Basel campus in 2010.

The plan adheres to the diagram typical of Novartis buildings: a nearly symmetrical rectangular, floor plan with two centralized service cores. A notable aspect of this facility is the deliberate elimination of physical barriers between laboratory and non-laboratory areas on the laboratory floors, aimed at fostering collaboration within the research process. Segregation between lab and non-lab zones is achieved through separate servicing of the respective functional areas by the building systems: while the air in lab and non-lab spaces remains distinct, the interaction among people is encouraged.

Function

The second, third, and fourth levels of the building are dedicated to open lab spaces, occupying the entire floor area. Unlike conventional rectilinear lab setups, the lab furniture layout is custom-designed by Novartis. It features dedicated single media column connections extending from the ceiling to each furniture cluster, with horizontal distribution of media within each furniture module, catering to individual workspaces.

The top floor houses offices and meeting rooms, which are accessible from the lab floors via two stair and lift cores. An internal sculptural stair, specifically designated, connects all lab levels with the top-floor offices. On the ground floor, one can find the café and collaboration spaces, accessible from the labs via two lifts.

Stacking

Building section reveals the functional diagram with a cafe on the ground floor, three lab floors, and an office floor with an embedded roof terrace above.

Building systems are located at Level -2, and lab materials storage and discharge are at Level -1. The top technical floor above the office contains air handling units.

The lab floor-to-floor height is 4.54m, with a clear height of 3.05m, 1.25m for ceiling installation space, a 20cm concrete slab, and a 4cm floor.

Structure

Two service cores are placed 27 meters apart within a rectangular floor plate without interior columns. An 800m² column-free lab space spans 30 meters from façade to façade and 27 meters from core to core. The structure is cast-in-place concrete with prefabricated concrete facade elements.

Shafts

Large centralized riser shafts in each of the two cores face the main lab space. Serving a large lab area, the main lab air trunks will have a substantial section at the point of shaft entry. Ample ceiling installation space allows for hiding large duct sections behind the suspended ceiling.

Fitout

There's not much of an interior fit-out to speak of: the building is practically a shell-and-core filled with furniture. A dedicated glazed feature stair connects labs on different floors. A small server room and a couple of boxes with support lab functions are placed in the open plan. There are no partitions and no dedicated write-up zones. Computer desks are docked onto the lab furniture modules.

Parti

One open lab space situated between and around two service cores, providing a pure lab floor devoid of office and other functions.

Thoughts

Stats

Built on the Novartis campus in Basel, Switzerland in 2010.

Architect: David Chipperfield Architects.