In Spring 2022, the new pavilion opened on the Novartis Campus in Basel, where a multimedia exhibition guides visitors through a Life Sciences experience highlighting achievements and capabilities in the field. The building, designed by architect Michele de Lucchi, is located directly on the Rhine, and as a public space will serve as a point of encounter between the company, the population, the campus, and its urban surroundings.
The prominently located pavilion is covered by a semi-transparent media facade, which was developed by iart in cooperation with the architects. It features a total of 10,000 diamond-shaped organic photovoltaic panels with 30,000 embedded LEDs, which not only shine outwards, but also inwards—causing the metal shells beneath to reflect the light. The partial transparency of the photovoltaic layer is crucial, as it is the sole reason the light shimmers not only over, but also through the building envelope.
Artists selected by HEK – Haus für elektronische Künste, Basel. Their artworks for the pavilion are inspired by processes in the human body. This is no coincidence: the roundness of the pavilion emerged conceptually from the amorphousness of human cells. The pavilion thus presents “Kunst am Bau” (“art on the building”) in a completely new form, namely its own. These daily displays, which appear after sunset, are supplemented with customised animations during special events. By day, the façade simply displays moving text.
The use of organic photovoltaic cells (OPV) is groundbreaking. With their input, the media skin becomes a zero-energy facade, as they are responsible for generating the electricity needed for the light shows.
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