Klybeck · Subsection 1
Klybeck · Subsection 4
Klybeck · Subsection 8
Klybeck · Subsection 9
Klybeck · Subsection 10
Klybeck · Subsection 12
Klybeck · Subsection 13.2
Klybeck · Subsection 13.3
Klybeck · Subsection 14
Klybeck · Subsection 15
Klybeck · Subsection 17
Klybeck · Subsection 18
Klybeck · Subsection 19
Klybeck · Subsection 21
Klybeck · Subsection 23
Klybeck · Subsection 1
Our story begins almost like a fairy tale: Once upon a time ...
... there was an old manor. This was some 300 years ago, when Klybeck was still called "Kluben im Grien" or "Klubeneck".
In 1864, when French businessman Alexander Clavel settled here with his dye works ...
... this idyllic peace came to an end.
He had great things in mind. He owned the formula for the artificial dye fuchsin.
Today, we would simply speak of pink or rose. At the time, it was a sensation - almost magic.
His colors were exported all over the world in richly decorated packages.
Clavel's real secret, however, was the color creation process ...
... which involved the chemical transformation of coal tar.
It was the time of smoking chimneys and noisy machines.
The success of fuchsin and other dyes transformed Klybeck from a green arcadia into an industrial district.
One factory after another was built and Basel changed its face.
Ferrari red and blue jeans conquered the world.
But the world was not enough.
Scientists and engineers from Klybeck also played their part in the conquest of the moon.
Researchers at Ciba and later Ciba-Geigy, which had grown out of Clavel's small factory, developed the Eidophore system.
It worked like a projector. NASA used it to broadcast the moon landing – and to transmit compliments from Buzz Aldrin to the chef.
NASA also used the adhesive Araldite to strengthen the heat shields of the Apollo capsule.
Modern architecture also knew how to use the strength of Araldite in buildings.
And the world's best photographers embraced the Cibachrome process to develop images of the highest brilliance.
Early on, Ciba also promoted medical research.
In 1917, the first biological laboratory was inaugurated.
In rapid succession, numerous medicines were developed.
Initially, products were simply imitated. Later, the company developed its own medicines from natural substances.
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The number of employees grew rapidly. The company ventured into new research areas and cooperated with academia.
With Nobel Prize winners Leopold Ruzicka and Tadeus Reichstein, Ciba laid the foundation for hormone and steroid medicine.
The well-known anti-inflammatory Voltaren was partially developed and produced here.
Years earlier, researcher Alfred Sallmann got the idea for the drug over lunch.
Innovative heart drugs, psychopharmaceuticals and one of the world's first targeted cancer therapies were created in Klybeck.
While medicine was on the rise, color chemistry lost its importance ...
... and the site was increasingly sidelined after Ciba-Geigy and Sandoz merged to form Novartis in 1996.
Entire buildings were shut down, and Novartis gradually ceased and outsourced drug production.
But it was not all quiet. In the northernmost part of the site, top-notch biotechnological research, development and production is still pursued today.
But the site, which spans the 42 football fields, had lost its importance and Novartis sold it to Rhystadt and Swiss Life in 2019.
Even before that, some of the world’s leading architects ...
... together with the city residents, perused the neighborhood and developed a vision for the future of Klybeck.
Their blueprints foresee an urban paradise, which combines life and work and puts people at the center.
The fairy-tale magic of Klybeck shines forth in these designs.
Many ideas are inspired by the same innovation spirit that once fired up the scientists.
What heights Klybeck will reach in future is still written in the stars.
What seems certain, tough, is that the wish to innovate and explore the magic of the unknown will continue to drive its residents.
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