The pharmaceutical and chemical industries profess their preference for flexibility and the open research and development lab. The open lab is presumed to also be the flexible lab. Borderless collaboration of researchers and easy changeability of lab layout are key for the agile development of new ideas and products. However, flexibility is not an automatic consequence of openness and both openness and flexibility are often easier to declare than to provide.

The Novartis labs in Cambridge, Massachusetts, present a playful variation of the typical Novartis diagram, featuring a rectangular floor plate with two service cores surrounded by open labs. Compared to Novartis Fabrikstrasse 22, the floor plate is larger, necessitating the introduction of intermediate columns due to longer spans from core to facade and between the cores. This alteration breaks up the rows of lab benches. A grand sequence of stairs cascades up along the building facade, providing circulation between the floors. Meeting and office spaces are situated alongside the stairs, with collaborative bubbles of various sizes lining the boundary between labs and circulation. Some meeting bubbles are also integrated within the lab space. An additional internal stair is introduced to provide connection between the labs, offering an alternative to relying solely on the grand staircase outside. Functionally and aesthetically, the building exhibits two distinct personalities: strictly rectangular metal-and-glass labs and a bubbly wood-clad public space.

While the lab space is open, questions arise regarding its flexibility. The lab furniture layout appears to be strictly tied to the structural grid, suggesting a fixed arrangement. A suspended ceiling conceals ventilation ducts and electrical conduits, hindering easy reconfiguration of systems for rapid lab layout changes. Although hoods can be added or removed in predetermined locations, the remainder of the lab space resembles an office environment. Lab-coated staff working with chemicals coexist with individuals in t-shirts typing away on computers. Moreover, the temperature and humidity in a large open space may not be adjustable to suit the needs of specific research or equipment groups.

Much of the design attention is directed towards circulation and collaboration bubbles. However, the chain of meeting bubbles between the cores limits daylight to the labs behind them. Unlike the truly open floor of Fabrikstrasse in Basel, the lab space between the cores here is a deep pocket without access to daylight or external views.

plans

Fabrikstrasse 22 in Basel stands out as the most consequential iteration of the Novartis diagram, featuring a rectangular floor plate with two service cores and open lab space surrounding and in between them. Custom lab furniture integrates write-up desks, while the offices are situated on a separate top floor.

The lab furniture exhibits an organic and fluid design, suggesting an expectation of easy and spontaneous changes to the lab layout. However, this does not appear to be the case. The furniture modules are fixed to overhead installations with rigid shafts, which disappear into a permanently closed ceiling.

plans