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Business Week
Stubbins Associates transforms a Necco candy factory into a place of light, collaboration, and industry for the biomedical research company Novartis
Convinced that interaction and collaboration are vital to the science of drug discovery, Novartis wanted a space that would promote what company executives call the “sociology of science.” So when it decided to move its research headquarters from Basel, Switzerland, to Cambridge, Mass., the international pharmaceutical giant set about making its building support that goal.
Stubbins Associates proposed an unconventional solution: to transform a Necco candy factory built in 1927 into a high-tech research facility. An attractive site close to other science companies and MIT, with windows and open spaces, made the building amenable to reuse as an innovative workplace.
Where possible, Stubbins removed the walls of the candy factory to open up the space for the biomedical company. When partitions were needed, the firm used glass walls to allow visual connectivity and penetration of daylight.
By John Gendall
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