Novartis CAMPUS VISITOR CENTRE . Basel
Peter Märkli . Goran Potkonjak . + mimoa
Before the advent of modern scientific methods in chemistry and pharmacology, it was the alchemists who endeavoured to discover remedies for human ailments. The office building Peter Märkli architekten designed for pharmaceutical giant Novartis Pharma recalls alchemy’s other enterprise, its attempts to turn base metals into gold: or rather, Märkli has succeeded in maintaining that illusion. The anodised aluminium of the loadbearing façades has been coated with a champagne-coloured paint and the air ducts that run across the roof are encased in gold-coloured aluminium sandwich board. While such non-designed service elements are often an eyesore, here they look like costly treasures.
