Innovation in construction

Adaptability and flexibility

Protection and security

Communicating through light

From lockdown to light show

Construction work on the Novartis Pavillon began in May 2020 during the lockdown. Certainly not the ideal time to embark on such a technically complex undertaking. But the on-site team skillfully overcame all hurdles to complete the building – rich in technological and architectural innovations – on schedule.

Text by Goran Mijuk, Photos by Adriano A. Biondo

The exquisite terrazzo floor...

Table of contents

Innovation in construction

Adaptability and flexibility

Protection and security

Communicating through light

Published on 25/04/2022

t was hot in the small container in front of the Novartis Pavillon, where site management meets weekly to discuss overall progress, when I met Daniel Mischler from Blaser Architekten in late summer 2021 to talk about the project’s development.

The 70-year-old Mischler has worked in the construction business now for over 30 years. The Pavillon, virtually the crowning achievement of his long career, was neither his biggest nor his longest project. Yet, the eye-catching circular building just outside the Campus is likely to remain in Mischler’s memory for a long time, as the construction started just about when the world came to a standstill due to the coronavirus pandemic.

“It was strange to start work during the lockdown,” Mischler says, with the air conditioning humming in the background. “All the workers were wearing masks when we started excavating, and we were wondering whether everything would go as planned given the pandemic.”

Although the coronavirus outbreak roiled the economy and brought the world’s supply chains to a grinding halt, the project went ahead at full speed. Planning had already begun years earlier, and the material for the complex façade and the supporting wooden framework was already in production.

Nevertheless, the job was not easy, says Mischler: “The rainy summer in particular repeatedly forced us to stop work. We were only able to install the wooden beams in good weather. On the one hand, it was too dangerous to work during rainfall due to the slippery conditions. On the other hand, we had to make sure that the wood didn’t get wet so that there was no damage later on.”

...required diligence and hard work.

Innovation in construction

Designed by Italian architect Michele De Lucchi, the Pavillon not only impresses with its distinctive shape, which evokes associations of a doughnut or a UFO. Above all, the shell and the interior of the building boast technological and architectural innovations.

This includes not only the building’s load-bearing wooden framework, which is geared toward sustainability, but also the low-energy roof façade with integrated solar panels and LEDs – a true world first.

“Innovation has always been an important criterion in all our construction work on the Campus,” Reto Gisiger stresses as he walks me through the unfinished building. “Every building we have made on the Campus since 2001 incorporates elements reflecting the commitment of Novartis to innovation, be it related to design, office workstations, laboratory concepts, energy supply or IT solutions.”

Besides geothermal storage systems, which have become a mainstay of the energy management strategy on the Campus, new buildings have been designed with innovative room, office and laboratory concepts, enabling associates to work together more efficiently.

Whereas in the past, laboratories were configured as static and isolated environments, Novartis, for example, ventured to build an open laboratory space in the research building designed by the British architect David Chipperfield, to shorten communication channels between scientists.

Elsewhere, such as in the elegant high-rise building by Herzog & De Meuron, which is home to many development teams managing the clinical trials at Novartis, the interior was designed in tandem with a neurologist to enable associates to work flexibly in large and small groups.

Wood played a major part in the construction of the Pavillon.

Adaptability and flexibility

Gisiger, who has been involved in several construction projects on the Campus, focusing primarily on designing and inspecting highly complex building layouts, has full responsibility for the Novartis Pavillon – from start to finish.

“You have to keep your eyes and ears open at all times and also not lose sight of the details,” Gisiger explains. “But it’s also important to remain flexible and adapt to changes.”

One particularly arduous task, Gisiger adds, was to install steel in addition to the wooden beams after deciding to increase the building’s diameter. “That wasn’t an easy change,” he admits. “But these things happen during a project and are usually easy to solve if you pull together.”

Also, the floor could not be built exclusively with wood. “Anyone who walks around in a house built entirely of wood knows how the material warps over time. That’s why it was decided to install a stone floor to achieve the necessary resilience.”

However, the challenges proved manageable, owing to what Gisiger describes as a smooth working relationship with Mischler and the rest of the team, as well as the vast experience of all parties involved.

Over the past 20 years, Novartis has built more than a dozen new buildings on the Basel Campus alone, and Gisiger is aware of the uncertainties that can arise during every construction phase.

The fact that Novartis has extensive construction experience was particularly noticeable during the coronavirus pandemic. When most of the associates were working from home, construction workers dominated the scene on the Campus.

In addition to the Pavillon, two other Campus buildings have also been subject to various alterations in recent months. For example, the tower building that holds Claudia Comte’s iconic mural underwent a renovation, and an older space got a significant overhaul in preparation for the Friedrich Miescher Institute’s relocation from the Rosental site to the Campus in 2023.

In future, it will be possible to walk under the building when strolling through the spacious garden encircling the Pavillon.

Protection and security

While touring the Pavillon, Gisiger repeatedly pauses to converse with the construction workers or remind them, in a firm but friendly manner, of the security regulations and the requirement to wear a helmet.

The protection of the workers is given the utmost attention. When I first arrived at the site, I observed four high-altitude workers putting on special protective equipment to attach the prefabricated solar LED elements to the sheet metal roof.

“Every worker had to undergo special training to comply with the standards and safety regulations, especially for installing the roof,” explains Mischler as I tell him about the scene. “What proved really difficult was putting up the roof, which required us to attach the sheet metal slats, tapered in a conical shape, one at a time. Whenever there were strong winds, it was almost impossible to continue the work. So the tinsmith had to stay on site for about 60 days until the job was finished.”

Living material

Inside the building, just as in front of the Pavillon, there is a hive of activity before the opening. While work on the façade is on the home stretch and gardening is in full swing on the outside, more than a dozen workers are busy finalizing the interior of the spacious building.

It is not a trivial matter. Although many individual components, especially those for the wood paneling, are already prefabricated, on-site carpentry work is still required to assemble the panels and ensure a precise fit.

When I returned to the Pavillon for a brief meeting in late September, the carpenters were just about to install an oversized panel. But the piece didn’t fit, so the foreman was forced into the challenging task of taking down the two-meter-long plate and cutting it to size.

Even though stress was written all over his face, he never lost his composure. After all, the circular building requires not only meticulous craftsmanship but also a huge amount of flexibility, as it is often unclear how some materials will perform.

“One of the big challenges we face in building the Novartis Pavillon is having to work a lot with wood, which has the property of expanding and contracting,” Gisiger explains. “This means that we have to incorporate tolerances everywhere to properly integrate this living material.”

The innovative solar LED elements of the media façade also have inbuilt flexibility to reflect material movement and building tolerances. “The supporting structure on the roof is highly complex because it has to mimic the shape of the building. The outside is convex, as is the transition from the vertical to the sloped surface. The inside, on the other hand, is concave, but the transition from the vertical to the inclined surface is convex,” explains Christian Reimann from iart, who is responsible for the media façade.

Piece by piece, the roof is getting its multimedia façade.

Communicating through light

The media façade is one of the highlights of the Novartis Pavillon. In future, it will not only be used by artists, but will also symbolize the openness and willingness of Novartis to engage in dialogue with the public.

The building, in contrast to conventional lighting systems, is illuminated not from the outside, but by LED lights embedded in the solar panels. They can shine downwards onto the steel roof and upwards away from the building. For the façade, iart devised a custom software, giving artists maximum flexibility in developing the displays.

“The cabling and electronics were highly complex and hugely challenging for the iart team,” explains Reimann as he allows me to take a look at the circuit diagram, which looks as if hundreds of spiders had set about weaving a web of the finest, tightly spaced threads.

For the artists, however, technology is only a means to an end. Whereas the high-altitude workers are busy installing the solar LED elements, they continue to develop their ideas with a view to stimulating people to reflect on issues such as health or environmental protection.

Swiss artist Esther Hunziker intends to translate the world of the micro- and macrocosm into an artistic expression, while British artist duo Semiconductor seek to bring the media façade to life with biomorphological figures. American-Spanish artist Daniel Canogar, on the other hand, wants to use the space to visualize data on climate change.

“The impact will be really strong once everything is finished,” Daniel Mischler is convinced. “I will certainly enjoy watching it from the Dreirosen Bridge when the roof spreads its magic in the dark. Soon, after all, I’ll have time for that.”

Gisiger, too, is looking forward to the moment when the media façade will light up for the first time. He is also aware that the project is drawing to a close. But his work is not over yet. Even once the work outside has been completed, there will still be a lot to do on the inside.

Installing the interactive exhibition is also a heavy lift. “There is still a lot of ground to cover,” Gisiger notes. “But if things go as they have so far, everything should work perfectly according to plan. Then I can sit back and enjoy the Pavillon.”

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