Research and development building 97
Roche site, Basel, Switzerland
Project 2006-2008
Realisation 2008-2011
Roche
Building 97.
Overview
Client
F. Hoffmann-La Roche AG, Basel, Switzerland
Architecture
Herzog & de Meuron, Basel, Switzerland
Team ZPF
Jörg Brändlin, Heike Egli-Erhart, Antje Käser-Wassmer, Helmuth Pauli, Sali Sadikaj, Andreas Schnetzer, Caroline Wiesbrock, Andreas Zachmann
Awards
Auszeichnung Guter Bauten Kanton Basel-Landschaft Kanton Basel-Stadt 2013
Building 97, a research and development building, is a global centre of excellence for innovative formulation processes and technologies. It represented the first stage of modernisation measures along Wettsteinallee and served as a guide for the rest of the development work. The building's architectural language shows that it is related to the existing structures: a clear, compact and well-structured body with horizontal ribbon windows and white parapets.
The design echoes the Roche architectural style, influenced by Otto Salvisberg, and thus continues a long-standing tradition in site development. This is characterised by clear lines, reference to the area's urban development, high quality standards and, above all, utmost transparency and flexibility.
The building's form is based on the necessary distances from the neighbouring structures. In order to make the most of the available land, several upper floors project up to 6.2 m outwards on two sides. The four-to-seven-storey volume fits into the company site like a piece in a puzzle.
In order to support the overhangs without reducing flexibility in terms of space usage, six tension members in the facade layer transfer the projecting floors' loads of up to 3000 t upwards into the top floor. Here, inclined planes direct the loads onto the inner columns of the reinforced-concrete skeleton structure. In the interests of flexibility, the production floors are built as steel structures with intermediate ceilings.