As “a dream voyager designed to inspire research” is how architect Björn Burger described the new Octapharma research centre
As “a dream voyager designed to inspire research” is how architect Björn Burger described the new Octapharma research centre at the laying of the foundation stone in the summer of 2010. Just two years later, the striking trapezoidal building in Neuenheimer Feld has already become a landmark of Heidelberg’s technology park.
The research building, situated in the close vicinity of the German cancer research centre (DKFZ), belongs to Octapharma Biopharmaceuticals GmbH, a subsidiary of the Swiss corporation Octapharma AG. The company was founded in 1983 and today it has 38 locations worldwide and 4,500 employees. Its products are manufactured in five countries and marketed on every continent.
The main focus at its Heidelberg site will be on fundamental research concentrating on the company’s core fields of expertise in immunology, haematology/blood coagulation as well as intensive and emergency medicine. Its researchers are experimenting with proteins from human cell lines which are intended to be used to strengthen the immune system, for example after chemotherapy, or in medication for haemophiliacs.
Staff moved into the first sections of the new building, featuring a striking glass facade with integrated solar protection, in April 2012. Around 50 employees have been working here since then over an area covering just under 2,000 square metres. In the long term, the company wants to make use of all the building’s 5,500 square metres.
