Herzog & de Meuron has unveiled plans for the modernization of the Roche pharmaceutical company’s Basel headquarters. With the first tower already under construction, the overall vision is to consolidate and update all existing facilities, including a historic Otto R. Salvisberg-designed office building, as well as construct a new, four-tower research center and 205-meter tall office tower by 2022.
"The planned consolidation of the existing industrial site will eliminate the need to build over green zones", emphasizes Jürg Erismann, Head of the Basel/Kaiseraugst Site. "Instead, Roche will be making more efficient use of those parts of the site that have already been developed but cannot be expanded.”
“Sustainability is a top priority for all our construction projects,” Erismann added. “For instance, assuming a comparable number of workplaces, the energy used in Building 1 will be only one fifth of the amount consumed in 40-year-old Building 74, which is due to be replaced as part of the site development project."
Ranging in height from 16 to 132 meters, the four integrated office and laboratory buildings, which will make up the new research and development center, will provide 950 offices and 950 state-of-the-art laboratory workplaces. This will be complemented by an additional, 50-story office building - the site’s tallest structure - that will provide space for up to 1,700 office workplaces.
The staff is expected to move into the first building by the end of 2015.
