Wonders of Medicine at Novartis Pavillon / ATELIER BRÜCKNER

The exhibition ‘Wonders of Medicine’ is located in the iconic Novartis Pavilion building in Basel. It places the human being at the center of a medical and scientific context: as a patient who inspires research, and as a researcher whose drive leads to the development of therapies

Designed by Italian designer and architect Michele De Lucchi, Novartis Pavillon stands as a beacon for openness, sustainability and forward thinking. Wood and other natural materials are used in innovative ways that evoke the feel of a living building, while transparent surfaces and a harmony with outside greenery create the perfect environment for inspiring encounters.

Commissioned by Novartis Group and curated by Sabine Himmelsbach from the House of Electronic Arts Basel (HEK), the media wall was jointly designed by iart and AMDL Circle. It features a real-time animated series titled “Morphogenetic Movements” for the media facade, transforming the Novartis Pavilion’s exterior into a self-organizing system. Through the emergence of cellular-like forms from visual noise, this artwork explores how self-organization, as a contemporary scientific approach, interprets complex systems as harmoniously unified wholes.

By employing algorithms which generate noise and feedback loops, the real-time animations simulate conditions associated with naturally occurring self-organising systems. Within this ‘environment’ we have encouraged the manifestation of properties observed in the dynamic evolution of these systems, such as spontaneous formation of patterns, unpredictability, waves and oscillations, so that the way the forms move, evolve and interact, feels organic, constantly shifting and mutating. Through the correlations and fluctuations of these processes order emerges from chaos, in the form of cell-like patterns, which are observed in many underlying structures of the natural physical world, particularly in biological life-forms.

Morphogenic Movements was commissioned for the Novartis Pavillon zero energy media façade. The façade is made from a network of 30,000 LED cores, powered by 10,000 energy-generating solar panels that light up at night.

Novartis Pavillon is where the wonders of medicine come to life. Make your way through four interactive exhibition areas that explore life, disease, the history of medicine and the future of healthcare.

Where do diseases come from? Explore the miraculous things our bodies do every day, the impact that illness can have, and how progress in medical science is helping to improve and extend people’s lives around the world. Plus, discover the personal side of illness, with immersive stories from patients and their families that show the reality of living with a severe disease.

How is medicine made? Step into the shoes of researchers, production specialists and clinical trial specialists to learn and experience how new drugs are developed from start to finish. Plus, discover the dramatic challenges and revelations that led to the creation of a life-changing medicines.

What path led us to modern healthcare? Explore the history of medicine and how centuries of innovation have helped create today’s advanced treatments. Discover milestones in medical science  and how they contributed to wider progress in healthcare. Or scan a giant interactive map to learn how Basel and its industry  have evolved over more than a century.

The future of healthcare

What will healthcare look like in the future? After learning about the impact and processes of medical progress, it’s time to join the discussion about how it could and should develop. Discover how advancing science could push medicine forward, and explore the big questions around topics like access to medicine, the use of artificial intelligence and the ethical consequences of treatments such as cell and gene therapies.

Design drawings ▼