Laboratory Fabrikstrasse 10
Novartis Campus, Basel, Switzerland
2005-2009
Fabrik-
strasse 10.
Overview
Client
Novartis AG, Basel, Switzerland
Architecture
Yoshio Taniguchi, Tokyo, Japan
Project architects
Blaser Architekten / Butscher Architekten, Basel, Switzerland
Team ZPF
Jörg Brändlin, Ana Maria Eigenmann, Hans-Peter Frei, Helmuth Pauli, Andreas Schnetzer, Andreas Zachmann,
Fabrikstrasse 10 is a highly modern research building that combines form and function with aesthetically appealing surroundings. The laboratory building is unobtrusive, but offers a dynamic and lively working atmosphere with a new laboratory concept that enhances the flow of communication and the exchange of knowledge. Structurally, the building is strongly characterised by the flexible public usage on the ground floor, with a column-free room approximately 1000 m² in size.
Normally, a building's weight is directly transferred to a foundation via columns. Here, in order to create the column-free ground floor, the system has been reversed: using columns, the building was suspended from a steel bridge in the roof.
This bridge, a steel framework structure measuring 4 m high, 46 m long and 24 m wide, is supported by four infrastructural cores made of reinforced concrete. In order to reduce weight, strain and seismic forces, coffered ceilings were used. On each floor, the glass facade rests on the slabs' edges, which were adjusted according to the strain specifications with steel hangers before the installation work began. The “bridge structure” in the roof required a provisional column system on the ground floor, which was removed using jacks once the upper floors had been raised and lowered.