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The reception building for the Novartis Campus in Basel is a load-bearing construction consisting completely of glass. It has a wing-shaped roof made from glass fibre reinforced plastic.

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The building rests on an underground car park in the middle of an artificially created park. The design of the architect, Marco Serra, called for a high degree of transparency and what appears to be a floating roof.

The load-bearing façade, which consists solely of glass elements, makes it possible to do without any additional supporting structures between the floor and the roof. The roof is a 400 m², wing-like shape made from glass fibre reinforced plastic (GFRP). It unifies all functions, for example the supporting function, thermal insulation and waterproofing, in a single, seamless element.

The static and constructive form of the roof and façade takes into account the manufacturing sequences, complex geometry and different behaviour of the materials used. The large, self-propelled swing doors fulfil numerous requirements for operation, safety, security and structural physics.

EBP planned the building as a general planner. This also included the structural engineering and façade design.

Picture Credits: Albert Buchmüller