Herzog & de Meuron has designed 543 Hortus in Basel, Switzerland.

543 Hortus creates a modern and flexible working environment for a new generation of technology companies that are settling in the Basel metropolitan region.

"We were commissioned to design a radically sustainable office building made of renewable and recyclable building materials," said Herzog & de Meuron.

The brief initiated a design process aimed at combining the lowest possible grey energy during construction, an energy-optimised concept during operation and a surplus of self-generated energy.

After 31 years, the building, which has around 600 workplaces, will have fully offset the energy used during its construction.