International research center and headquarter Merck Serono

Situation

Serono wishes to group all of its research activities as well as its administration and company management at its site in Sécheron in Geneva. To date, they were spread across the entire canton.

Program

The object, designed in the form of a large, open campus for joint utilization of knowledge, satisfies the new priorities of Serono as well as the rising research requirements in biotechnology. Better communications, faster decision-making processes, optimized innovation philosophy, respect of human resources and the environment – all this is evidenced in this architectural design of space created “for defining new standards in the quality of life”. The rehabilitation of the old facility in Sécheron, which dates back to the 19th century, allowed the characteristics of an architecture to be retained which reflected the emerging electromechanical heavy industry of that time.

Architectural project

Three new, light-flooded buildings with six levels for research are interlinked by streets and spaces to encourage communication. This complex is covered by an arched glass roof. It swings like a balance bridge through the simple effect of the counterweight, opening above the area of the forum of almost 1,000 square meters. A large staircase embellishes the entrance of the administration building with its splendid inner courtyard, equalizing the difference in height of about one storey between the front and rear of the building. It leads to the forum with newsstand, café, restaurant, a vast triangular space with rounded walls and a surface area of 1,400 square meters whose floor tiles extend to outdoors. These three buildings match the typology of the two existing industrial halls, which will be converted into research offices and a conference centre. They were subjected to a historical evaluation in collaboration with the cantonal service and the committee for historical monuments. The goal of this renovation is to emphasize the most typical façades and to preserve their industrial characteristics. However, they are also expected to blend with a modern site in which glass walls attached to virtually invisible cables connect the forum and the first building in the south and the three buildings in the north. Neither the translucent lift nor the delicate metal bridges leading to the “speak easy” areas and forming the connection on each floor disturb this sophisticated transparency. This futuristic architecture, where inside and outside blend seamlessly, extends to a carefully devised landscape environment with a tree-lined street, a private garden, water basins and pedestrian paths. The buildings exclusive of landscaping and water basins are scheduled for completion in the summer of 2005. This would mean that from 2006, 1,200 persons will be able to work there. A second project phase, for which the building permit has already been obtained, can be developed according to the company’s needs. Underneath one and the same roof, this 25,000-square-metre extension would increase the total capacity of the site to 2,200 workplaces.