154 Ricola Marketing Building

Instead of a multistory volume that would dominate the architectural landscape, we chose a low polygonal installation that fits into Ricola’s garden area like a pavilion. We wanted an architecture in which outer form and geometry did not immediately reveal themselves. One which, thanks to its turned-back façades, dissolves into single pieces. Each piece has the distinct characteristic of either surrounding, reflecting or projecting far into the building’s interior a special view into the garden.

The deep cantilevered roof can be understood as a symbol for the strategy utilized here of melding nature and architecture. Roof beams are made of a special plastic having variable give for assimilation to changing temperatures and the changing weight of rain or snow. Plants, woven among the beams, form a hybrid natural-artificial construction which lends the building an ever-changing appearance in accordance with the passing seasons. Ivy provides for basic green throughout the year between the beams. The leaves of other plants – wild wine, for example – are only visible during the summer months and help to prevent too much sun from penetrating the glass façades.

Inside, the building is planned as a single, cohesive, open space that offers, for the most part, a transparent office landscape on two floors. The large staircase in the middle of the building is simultaneously a connecting element, meeting place, and auditorium. The building is equipped with façades of pure glass throughout, with a few wall-height sliding doors. Thus actual spatial delineation is not static and may be changed according to need. Curtains mounted on three parallel runners allow users differing variables as to color, transparency, and view.

Like its landscape design, the building’s textile equipment is indivisibly bound to its architectural concept. In no way is it a more or less coincidental decorative element. Its conception demanded early and close cooperation with the landscape architect Kienast Vogt and with artists Rosmarie Trockel and Adrian Schiess.

The new marketing building is the third important work by Herzog & de Meuron for Ricola. Both previous buildings, a warehouse in Laufen (1986) and a production building in Mulhouse-Brunnstatt (1993) found worldwide acclaim in architectural circles. In the new glass marketing building, plants and constructional elements are conjoined in a new way to create the architectural background for a very open building type for office spaces intended to improve and facilitate spontaneous internal communication. Both landscape architecture and artists’ cooperation are important components in the architects’ design strategy.

Herzog & de Meuron, 1999