phase one of roche's basel HQ opens with herzog & de meuron-designed office tower

in basel, global healthcare company roche has opened a new office building that forms part of the firm’s enlarged headquarters. working in their home city, swiss architects herzog & de meuron have completed a structure designed to encourage collaboration across departmental boundaries, while stimulating creativity and innovation. named ‘building 1’, the 41-storey tower is heated entirely with waste heat from the site, and contains a 500-seat auditorium.

the tower is the first visible sign of roche’s site development
all images courtesy of roche / herzog & de meuron

pierre de meuron explains the project as follows: ‘whereas externally, building 1 is in keeping with the architectural idiom set forth by roche, internally it fulfills the ever-changing demands on a modern and innovative workplace environment. building 1 is innovative because its inner structure was designed first and foremost with the patterns of movement and communication needs of its occupants in mind.’

the project is designed to encourage collaboration across departmental boundaries

‘the media in particular make much of the fact that it’s the tallest building in switzerland, as well as the tallest herzog & de meuron have built to date’, adds jacques herzog. ‘however, neither roche nor we as architects set out to break records. rather, building 1 exemplifies our position in the current discourse surrounding the problems of uncontrolled development, both in basel and throughout switzerland. in areas where there is already dense urban settlement, the aim should be continued, targeted densification.’

a spiral staircase forms a sculptural aspect of the project’s interiors

the site’s development was announced in october 2014, and will be implemented in stages over the next few years. the plan for the new R&D center, building 2 and the other structures has already been submitted.

‘building 1 is the first visible sign of roche’s site development strategy at its basel headquarters,’ said roche CEO severin schwan. ‘we will be investing three billion francs in new research and office infrastructure here, equipping the site for continued success. we also regard building 1 as a clear commitment to switzerland and to basel.’ see designboom’s previous coverage of the development here.

the 41-storey tower is heated entirely with waste heat from the site

an outdoor terrace provides sweeping vistas across the city

the view across basel from the scheme’s upper storey

sectional drawing indicating the tower’s internal program

rendering illustrating the scale of the entire complex