Prize(s) Winners in Exterior Architectural Illumination / LED Exterior Systems
Company iart - studio for media architectures
Lead Designers iart - studio for media architectures / AMDL CIRCLE and Michele De Lucchi
Architecture Company AMDL CIRCLE and Michele De Lucchi
Client Novartis
Photo Credits iart, Laurits Jensen
Completion Date 30 April 2022
Project Location Basel, Switzerland
Entry DescriptionWhere sunlight becomes art: The zero-energy media facade of the Novartis Pavillon combines organic photovoltaics and LEDs to illuminate the building with digital artworks. It features a total of 10,000 solar modules with 30,000 embedded LEDs and consumes only as much electrical energy as it is capable of producing.
The LEDs not only shine outward, but also in the direction of the metal shell beneath – causing their light to reflect and shimmer through the semi-transparent solar modules. This visually multi-layered membrane is used to screen the works of three international artists, Daniel Canogar, Esther Hunziker and Semiconductor. They collaborated with scientists to develop animations inspired by the shapes and colours of cells and molecules, as well as the themes of sustainability and the convergence of art and science.
The Novartis Pavillon is located in Basel, Switzerland, and is intended to be a place of learning, knowledge and exchange, to bring the world of science and medicine closer to the community. It houses “Wonders of Medicine”, a permanent multimedia exhibition, as well as meeting spaces and a café.
