Roche Tower

Roche Tower, also known as Building 1, is an office skyscraper in the Swiss city of Basel. Designed by Herzog & de Meuron for the pharmaceutical company Hoffmann-La Roche, it stands 178 metres tall with 41 floors. At the time of its opening, it was the tallest building in Switzerland, surpassing the Prime Tower in Zürich by 52 metres. The building has a total floor space of and cost CHF 550 million to construct. It houses around 2,000 employees.
In 2020, Roche Tower was overtaken in height by the adjacent 205-metre Building 2, also developed by Roche.

History

Construction of Building 1 began in 2012, and it was officially inaugurated on 18 September 2015. Upon completion, it surpassed the Prime Tower in Zürich, which had been Switzerland’s tallest building for just under four years. Strict planning regulations in Swiss cities mean that there are few skyscrapers in the country.

Architecture and engineering

The structure stands on 143 piles driven up to 24 metres into the ground, topped by a foundation slab intended to enhance stability in earthquakes. Basel lies in one of Switzerland’s highest-risk earthquake zones along with the canton of Valais. The tower was engineered to withstand a magnitude 6.9 earthquake on the Richter scale, a standard higher than legally required, corresponding to an event statistically expected once every 1,500 years.
The building features a closed-cavity facade that reduces cleaning requirements, provides solar shading, and maintains outward visibility. It also incorporates a well-insulated envelope and LED lighting with daylight-based controls, along with automated systems for light, ventilation, heating, and cooling. The heating, cooling, and ventilation systems use groundwater cooling along with waste-heat recovery.