Laboratory buildings are usually designed in a technoid-industrial way and rarely have a high-level aesthetic character. The Novartis Campus in Basel is different: Sir David Chipperfield designed a laboratory building that takes into account the latest trends in laboratory technology and transdisciplinary cooperation between the sciences and at the same time is aesthetically impressive. The supporting structure consists of two massive cores and a load-bearing façade of sculptural-looking prefabricated concrete elements. The column-free floor plans allow for an open, undivided spatial structure, which eliminates the need for the usual airlock doors. A roof garden by the American artist Serge Spitzer crowns the house.