The queue of people snaking along the banks of the Rhine as far back as the tram stop on the Dreirosenbruecke silenced the doubters – and even surprised the optimists.

At the end of April 2022, more than 2,000 Basel residents gathered at the entrance to the Pavillon just outside the Campus to visit the new exhibition and meeting space at Novartis. The expectation was that, following the Covid pandemic, a few hundred people would attend at the most.

There were similar scenes at subsequent Industry and Museum Nights, demonstrating the public’s curiosity about what Novartis has to offer.

Since it opened, the Pavillon has attracted more than 200,000 visitors from all over the world. Hundreds of internal and external events have taken place in the circular building designed by architect Michele de Lucchi; its LED facade is a new architectural highlight in the heart of Novartis Park South.

The design and development phase of the building, which was initially conceived as an in-house learning center for the nearly 80,000 Novartis employees worldwide, took over a decade. At the start of the project, nobody could have imagined that Novartis would one day open its doors and seek dialogue with the local community.

Relations with the public had always been quite tense and were shaped by scandals and misunderstandings. The Campus, too, was unpopular with many. Although it was possible to visit the site, a cumbersome registration process prevented outsiders from discovering its architectural highlights and it was popularly known as the “forbidden city.”

Multiple efforts were made to introduce the public and those living in surrounding neighborhoods to the Campus, but the public saw these as merely token gestures. Novartis (and its Campus) was still seen as an interloper, even though its creators had designed the Campus to be part of the city.

But then came a shift in thinking. Technological change, and digital teaching aids, removed the need for a training complex. Novartis also recognized that it needed to proactively engage with society when it came to introducing and explaining innovative technologies.

These societal and technological changes created the conceptual framework for the Pavillon, which was designed as an exhibition and meeting space where visitors can learn about the pharmaceutical industry and the complex and lengthy process of creating a new drug.

In addition to the permanent exhibition, Novartis also launched the Behind the Science lecture series, in which staff and external experts present new technologies and discuss social issues related to medicine, among other topics, with the audience.

There is an urgent need for such debates. The pharmaceutical industry, which for around 100 years mainly developed small-molecule therapies, has undergone a massive technological transformation over the past 10 years.

Gene technology, RNA-based therapies and nuclear medicine, which were considered utopian 20 years ago, are now the main pillars of the company’s strategy for the future. However, the general public has very little understanding of these therapeutic forms. Whenever new forms of therapy are discussed, the focus is always on the high prices.

But this is only one side of medical development. The path to creating innovative medicines always starts with an arduous, decades-long research journey in which there are more setbacks than successes. This journey is not just about the high levels of investment that are required to drive forward groundbreaking developments.

The history and stories behind medical progress, which are discussed in the Pavillon, are part of a society’s culture and the result of an ongoing debate that follows its own laws and is governed by trends that are beyond the control of the local population or the business community.

When the first industrial dye producers began their work in the mid-19th century, business owners and the public were at loggerheads about the stench emanating from the factory buildings and chimneys – which at that time were still inside the city walls.

When these industries moved to the Klybeck and St. Johann districts, they were given permission to dispose of waste and production residues in the Rhine. People admired their business success and even forgot about the smoking chimneys for a while, until a growing awareness of environmental issues poisoned the public’s relationship with industry. The Seveso and Schweizerhalle disasters proved the critics right.

The Pavillon includes these difficult moments in its interpretation of the history of Novartis: The intention is not to present a polished marketing image of the company in order to sell products. The Pavillon is a place of dialogue and encounter, offering time, space, and a calm environment to encourage wide-ranging discussion.

Of course, not everyone judges these efforts to be well intended, and some believe there is an elaborate, thought-out strategy behind them. Chairman of the Novartis Board of Directors Joerg Reinhardt, who took forward the idea of the Pavillon, rightly believes it is the job of Novartis to convince the doubters.

The large numbers of people who have already visited the Pavillon have seen for themselves that the place is not designed as a marketing temple glorifying Novartis. Instead, it presents a comprehensive picture of the pharmaceutical industry as a whole and demonstrates how it is embedded in the city’s social fabric.

Today, the Pavillon provides a backdrop for the Museum Night, the Basel History Days and events such as the Interfinity Music Festival, but it also forms part of a dynamic Basel that is rethinking its relationship with business and industry and reexamining the long-standing ties between the city and industry.

For Novartis, the Pavillon is not merely a symbol of its new open stance towards the city. The Pavillon and its idealistic approach are also shining a light on the company’s internal culture and are part of a general cultural shift that is not limited to Basel, but affects all Novartis sites around the world.

Offshoots of the Pavillon are currently being set up in Hyderabad and East Hanover. This does not simply involve displaying the content of the audiovisual exhibition in other locations. The main focus is on inspiring colleagues in the United States, China, India, and Germany to reach out and engage in dialogue with the public.

Clearly, this kind of cultural change does not happen overnight, and doubt and skepticism are to be expected. But the days in which companies could hide behind a wall and rely solely on philanthropy and sponsorship to create a sense of proximity and trust are over.

New forms of dialogue must be found, because the technological changes that have torn open the 20th century’s rigid forms of communication and unleashed a democratized, as well as an unfortunately uncontrolled, debate culture are calling traditional approaches into question.

The Pavillon provides a space for serious conversations, for learning more about the pharmaceutical industry or even for just enjoying a cup of coffee – all in a setting that was not even a distant dream a quarter of a century ago, when the St. Johann site was a concrete jungle with just seven trees.

The road to this opening was long and never straight. As a result, the Pavillon and the Campus should not be viewed as solutions that satisfy society’s need for transparency and visibility once and for all. They are landmarks in the relationship between industry and society, which constantly shifts, is reinterpreted, passes through ripples and eddies, and sometimes gets stuck in the shallows before moving into calmer waters once again.

Nobody knows what the Pavillon and Campus will look like in 20 years, but it is clear that technological and societal change will continue to affect St. Johann in the future – and Novartis wants to work with society to shape that future. What better place to start?

In 2024, Novartis created an audio tour for Campus visitors, providing guests a historical, cultural, and scientific overview of the St. Johann site. Learn more about the audio tour → here.