Reception Building, Novartis Campus, Basel

03.01.10 - The reception building for the Novartis Campus in Basel is a load-bearing construction consisting completely of glass. It has a wing-shaped roof made from glass fibre reinforced plastic.

The building rests on an underground car park in the middle of an artificially created park. The design of the architect, Marco Serra, called for a high degree of transparency and what appears to be a floating roof.

The load-bearing façade, which consists solely of glass elements, makes it possible to do without any additional supporting structures between the floor and the roof. The roof is a 400 m², wing-like shape made from glass fibre reinforced plastic (GFRP). It unifies all functions, for example the supporting function, thermal insulation and waterproofing, in a single, seamless element.

The static and constructive form of the roof and façade takes into account the manufacturing sequences, complex geometry and different behaviour of the materials used. The large, self-propelled swing doors fulfil numerous requirements for operation, safety, security and structural physics.

Ernst Basler + Partner planned the building as a general planner. This also included the structural engineering and façade design.