Shaping spaces  together

Unobtrusive, yet essential to life.

At first glance, this room looks rather unremarkable, resembling an ordinary changing room. In reality, however, it serves an important purpose – and indirectly helps save lives.

This so-called cleanroom changing area forms the transition zone between the general operational areas and the cleanrooms, where pharmaceutical and medical products are processed and packaged under strictly controlled hygienic conditions. In a way, this area functions as an airlock, where employees prepare before entering their workplaces. It helps ensure that the high hygiene standards required in medical packaging are maintained.

We had the opportunity to design and realise just such a cleanroom changing area, covering approximately 250 m², for allpack group ag in Reinach. A project that demonstrates how architecture can make an important contribution even in spaces that go largely unnoticed at first glance.

In mid-September, we hosted a successful event to celebrate our shared office space in Zurich with our office partners Anima Engineering AG, Laborplaner Tonelli AG and Amenti AG. We are delighted to share this space at Weststrasse 50 and make the most of it together with our partners, including Amenti AG, a developer of architecture software. We look forward to continued exchange, new synergies and further collaboration under one roof.

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Corporate architecture is about much more than a consistent visual identity. Renovating existing retail spaces requires flexibility, precision and effective coordination. We were able to draw on our experience from refurbishing H&M stores throughout German-speaking Switzerland for the renovation of the H&M store in the Bülach shopping centre. Across approximately 1,200 m², the fitting rooms were refurbished, self-checkout tills and a click-and-collect service were integrated, and the entrance area was repositioned. The project also required us to take the shopping centre’s overarching fire safety concept into account. Projects like this demonstrate the versatility of corporate architecture: developing existing spaces further, integrating new requirements and finding solutions that work in everyday operations.

Following the Main Campus HQ and HORTUS, development at the Switzerland Innovation Park Basel Area Main Campus (SIP Main Campus) in Allschwil continues to progress towards completion. On plots C3 and C4, ALL is taking shape as a sustainable laboratory and office building that combines high standards of flexibility and sustainability. Designed by Herzog & de Meuron and developed by SENN, the building will provide approximately 20,500 m² of usable floor space. The Botnar Institute of Immune Engineering (BIIE) will be the building’s anchor tenant, moving into the premises on Hegenheimermattweg. BIIE is a non-profit research institution dedicated to studying the immune system and developing new approaches to the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of diseases. Its mission is to improve the lives of children and young people worldwide. The ground floor will accommodate Swiss Innovation Park facilities, including additional laboratories that we designed and for which we delivered the tenant fit-out. We are also supporting the BIIE project with construction management for the tenant fit-out, overseeing inspections and acceptance procedures as well as the completion of the individual trades. In doing so, we are helping ensure that the building is ready for its future operations. Discover more about the project in our interview with Stephen Wilson, CEO of the Botnar Institute of Immune Engineering.

Imagecredit: Gebäude ALL, eine Entwicklung von SENN, Architektur Herzog & de Meuron. Visualisierung Herzog & de Meuron.

Seit der Abstimmung zur Verlegung der Naubrücke in Laufen (BL) ist bald ein Jahr vergangen. Ergebnis damals: die Brücke über die Birs soll flussabwärts neu aufgebaut werden. Davon ist auch die heutige Kletterhalle des SAC, Sektion Hohe Winde, betroffen, die aufgrund des Entscheids ebenfalls einen neuen Standort bekommt. Gemeinsam mit ARX Gruppe AG und weiteren Planungspartnern begleiten wir als Teil des Generalplanungsteams den Neubau. Dabei wird Bestehendes weitergenutzt: Der rund 20 Meter hohe Kletterturm samt Stahlkonstruktion wird rund 150 Meter weiter versetzt und dort als Re-Use Variante wieder aufgebaut. Als Option mitgedacht wird die spätere Realisierung einer Aussenkletterwand an der Turmfassade. Baustart voraussichtlich für Herbst 2028 geplant. Bis dahin gibt es noch einiges zu planen und vorzubereiten. Wir freuen uns, dieses besondere Projekt mitzugestalten, bei dem die Wiederverwendung bestehender Bauteile eine zentrale Rolle spielt.