Office building Asklepios 8
Novartis Campus, Basel, Switzerland
2010-2015
Asklepios 8.
Overview
Client
Novartis AG, Basel, Switzerland
Architecture
Herzog & de Meuron, Basel, Switzerland
Team ZPF
Nala Abu-Taleb, Jörg Brändlin, Heike Egli-Erhart, Ana Maria Eigenmann, Rafael Häni, Antje Käser-Wassmer, Noor Musawi, Kata Aletta Orbán, Sali Sadikaj, Andreas Zachmann
The master plan for the Novartis Campus in Basel specifies a uniform building height of 23.5 m. Asklepios 8 is taller because it is in the outermost corner of the campus, where the width of the Rhine demands a different scale. This office building is the connecting link between the campus and the Rhine promenade. Its orthogonal geometry and volumes directly refer to streets and squares in the campus behind it.
The building consists of two stacked cubes that are almost equal in height: the lower one, with six floors and a height of 23.5 m, complies with the master plan, whereas the upper section has seven floors, so as to compensate for the foreshortening of perspective. Between the two building sections, a large open space provides a spacious lounge for a wide range of activities, events, work situations, seminars etc.
With its distinctive volumetric structure, Asklepios 8 is a tall building, rather than a skyscraper. Two continuous cores are positioned inside, connected with two downstand beams, floor by floor. The only vertical load-bearing elements added are facade columns. This enables span widths of up to 14 m. The self-supporting façade of unclad painted solid-steel (R90) columns sits in front of the support system and envelops the building like a column forest, giving the fully glazed building's indoor spaces a certain private sphere. In addition, the facade's seamless white concrete rims positioned on each floor make it difficult for fire to spread. As horizontal beams, the rims also reinforce the facade layer – architectural elements serving to meet static loading requirements.