Swiss and Italian design thinking

Art and science

Swiss and Italian design thinking

An icon of collaborative creativity

With its design for the Pavillon, Italian architecture studio AMDL Circle not only helped Novartis house its medicines exhibition but supported the company in its quest to evolve its Campus in Basel and create an icon of openness and creativity. Nicholas Bewick, who led the project with Michele De Lucchi, shares his experience in the following article.

Text by Nicholas Bewick, Photos by Adriano A. Biondo

The use of mock-ups – detailed replicas of the intended buildings – was decisive in developing a sense of the construction challenges.

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Swiss and Italian design thinking

Art and science

Published on 11/07/2022

In 2017, AMDL Circle was selected to design the Novartis Pavillon, following an international competition between four architectural studios.

The goal was to create a building to house the Wonders of Medicine installation and support Novartis in its quest to catapult the Basel Campus with its more than 7000 associates into a new phase in which creativity, collaboration and openness are paramount.

Against this background, we conceived the Pavillon to have an open and accessible agenda for both associates and visitors, crafting a unique circle shape structure that offers places for informal meetings, collaborative workspaces and also a unique exhibition area.

After much deliberation, the name we chose – the Novartis Pavillon – perfectly reflects this aim to complement the Campus with a refined contemporary building which sits in the park overlooking the river Rhine near the Dreirosen Bridge.

The project’s design and aspiration were also linked to AMDL Circle’s ongoing research and development into buildings which promote learning, human interaction and architectural innovation – what we call Earth Stations, a new typology of buildings aimed at facilitating and promoting encounters and cultural exchange.

Nothing was left to chance in the Pavillon project. Even the furniture and curtains were tested during the building’s construction phase.

Swiss and Italian design thinking

As a design and construction process, the Pavillon project has been a fascinating experience. The four years from its inception to the actual construction were a strong demonstration of the commitment and care the project has been given within the company and its leadership under Chairman Joerg Reinhardt.

While the diligent process was deeply rooted in the Swiss culture of thoroughness, we would like to think that our Italian way of creative conception has also played an important part in helping to stimulate the design and outcome.

The building itself is a composition of many layers of thoughtfully engineered elements, whose selection has been based on sustainability criteria, material suitability and aesthetics, which we tested extensively via a series of full-scale mock-ups.

Although the Pavillon revolves around the grand and abstract ideas of medicine, life sciences and technological innovation, our aim was always to give the structure a human scale and touch.

With this in mind, our goal was to create an informal interior and welcoming atmosphere, using products and bespoke furniture designed by the studio.

Ecclesiastical shape

While the ground floor with its 360-degree window front, which includes a café, a bookshop and collaboration areas, the circular upper-level exhibition area with its inclined roof is a closed space.

Compared to the ground floor, the upper floor breathes a totally different atmosphere that has an almost ecclesiastical shape and provides the stage for the Wonders of Medicine exhibit – an interactive display developed by Atelier Brueckner that lets visitors explore the world of life sciences and Novartis through five different themes.

As a prelude to the exhibition, we also designed a mezzanine level theater and panoramic screen to introduce the content and objectives of the show. We hope that in the coming years this space will be used in different ways to create other types of installations that demonstrate the company’s role and commitment to developing medicines across the world.

Cool look and comfortable leisure: a design sofa bei Michele De Lucchi.

Art and science

the client pushing the architects to seek the most engaging result. This was the case for the Pavillon too, most notably for its multimedia façade.

Initially, we considered a silver-colored metal roof design, but this was discarded for its lack of innovative power. This led us to evolve, together with Basel-based media company iart, the concept of covering the building with a solar-powered communication membrane that would provide the company with the opportunity to collaborate with digital artists to create a dynamic media display of medical research and environmental impact imagery.

Following the acceptance of this idea, iart developed the technical design solution as well as the digital system and organized the production and implementation of the media façade.

Icon of collaborative creativity

The overall result, in our view, is a building that works on different levels, from being a humanistic place to meet people to being a place for engaging with the life sciences.

The building is also integrated into a natural setting and helps Novartis to promote openness and formulate its desire to attract and collaborate with the most innovative minds.

Furthermore, we are convinced that the Pavillon can become an important architectural and cultural icon for the city by demonstrating the power of creative and constructive collaboration in which everybody plays an important role.

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