11 Pharmaceutical Company Headquarters

1. 

   01

   Johnson & Johnson · New Brunswick, New Jersey

   A white tower by I. M. Pei's firm in a park-like campus, beside the same railroad as the old wallpaper factory where J&J started in 1886 — it has never left town.

   • 1886 headquartered in New Brunswick ever since
   • 12 weeks paid leave for every new parent, worldwide
   • 30 days paid bereavement leave, worldwide

   J&J's world headquarters is a 16-story white tower joined to low three-story pavilions sheathed in glass and white enameled aluminum, set in a park-like campus by the railroad in downtown New Brunswick. It was designed by Pei Cobb Freed & Partners, I. M. Pei's firm. A 2016–17 redesign by Kimmerle Newman Architects added a Mobility Center, an on-site Starbucks, a salon, an outdoor dining plaza by the cafeteria and spaces for TEDx talks, while keeping to the original design. On the same campus stands the brick Powerhouse of 1907, the oldest building J&J still has, now home to its archives and museum.

   Source: Facts: Pei Cobb Freed & Partners project list · Kimmerle Group press release (Apr 18, 2017) · jnj.com “The inside story of the Powerhouse” · careers.jnj.com “Employee benefits” · stories and pavilions: Wikipedia

   The full Johnson & Johnson profile →

2. 

   02

   Roche · Basel, Switzerland

   Spiral staircases join every three floors of a 205-metre tower, and each cluster of floors opens onto its own terrace.

   • 205 m Building 2, Switzerland's tallest building when it opened
   • 3,200 workplaces in Building 2
   • 18 weeks paid maternity leave in Basel

   Building 2's office floors are grouped in clusters of three, each joined by its own spiral staircase so people from different departments meet. Thanks to the stepped shape, every cluster has a terrace or loggia. There is a café on the ground floor, a bistro on the 12th floor and a cafeteria at the top with a view over Basel and the countryside.

   Source: Facts: Herzog & de Meuron project page “445 Roche Building 2” · Roche media release, Sept 2, 2022.

   The full Roche profile →

3. 

   03

   AstraZeneca · Cambridge, United Kingdom

   A hovering glass disc with a saw-tooth roof, an open courtyard modelled on Cambridge's colleges, and glass-walled labs for more than 2,200 scientists.

   • 577,504 sq ft Discovery Centre, gross floor area
   • 2,200+ research scientists in the DISC (2021)
   • 86% of employees say it's a great place to work (2025)

   Herzog & de Meuron shaped The DISC as a triangular glass disc with rounded edges, resting on six glass boxes that hold the laboratories. A saw-tooth roof floods the upper floor with daylight, and the open courtyard in the middle is a reference to the historic colleges of central Cambridge. Inside, full-height glass walls make the science visible; the floors are natural stone at the entrances, rough-sawn oak on the main stairs and inner ring, and carpet in the offices. The conference centre, auditorium, café and restaurant all sit on the ground floor.

   Source: Facts: Herzog & de Meuron project page “430 AstraZeneca's Discovery Centre (The DISC)” · AstraZeneca press release “AstraZeneca unveils The Discovery Centre (DISC) in Cambridge” (Nov 23, 2021) · astrazeneca.com/our-company/our-locations/cambridge

   The full AstraZeneca profile →

4. 

   04

   Bayer · Leverkusen, Germany

   A 190-metre glass half-oval with a skin that breathes, opening onto a park in the city Bayer has called home since 1912.

   • 190 m long glass headquarters, opened 2002
   • 1912 Leverkusen becomes the headquarters
   • ≈ 5,000 Bayer people in Leverkusen (2025)

   Chosen through an invited international competition, Helmut Jahn's headquarters is a semi-elliptical building that opens south toward a park. Two fully glazed shells form a protected cavity that lets fresh air in through operable windows and shades the offices; convectors in the raised floor condition the air as it enters. A 15 m-high glass entrance hall and a 117 m-long glass-and-steel pergola face the street, and in front of the building a bosque of clipped sycamores and a round reflecting pool echo the Bayer logo.

   Source: Facts: Jahn project page “Bayer Headquarters” · Werner Sobek project page “Bayer Headquarter” · PWP project page · Bayer press release, Oct 22, 2002

   The full Bayer profile →

5. 

   05

   Novartis · Basel, Switzerland

   A headquarters laid out like a small city, with streets, squares and arcades and buildings by Frank Gehry, Tadao Ando, SANAA and Herzog & de Meuron, open to the public on weekdays.

   • ≈ 8,000 people work on the Basel Campus
   • 18 weeks minimum paid parental leave in Switzerland, for every parent
   • 7:00–19:00 the Campus is open to the public on weekdays (since 2022)

   Forum 3, the headquarters building on the Campus's main square, was the first of the new buildings to be completed. Its façade is a semi-transparent veil of layered coloured glass panes. The ground floor, with foyer, café, restaurant and a large conference room, opens completely to a covered space under the projecting upper floors. Upstairs are open-plan offices with secluded zones, joined by a curved dark-walnut staircase, and the west wing holds an indoor garden of tropical trees reaching up to the ceiling.

   Source: Facts: Diener & Diener project page “Novartis Campus Forum 3, Basel, 2002–2005”. Photos are added later with credit to the architect or photographer; we remove any photo on request.

   The full Novartis profile →

6. 

   06

   Pfizer · New York, New York

   Eleven floors of a 1,031-foot tower wrapped in garden terraces — with a roof terrace over the Hudson, a two-story gym and seven “renew rooms”.

   • 11 floors of The Spiral, for about 2,500 colleagues
   • 12 weeks paid parental leave (U.S.)
   • 15 paid company holidays, incl. a wellness day

   BIG designed The Spiral so that every office floor opens onto its own terrace, and the terraces wind up the 66-story tower like “a 1000-foot-tall vine”. Double-height spaces and grand staircases can link neighbouring floors. On Pfizer's floors there are four coffee bars and cafés, a two-story fitness center, a wellness studio, seven “renew rooms” and a 12,000 sq ft terrace on the 7th floor next to the cafeteria, where people can eat, perch on stepped seating or sit on sofas looking at the Hudson River.

   Source: Facts: pfizer.com (grand opening article, 2023) · BIG project page “The Spiral” · RGR Landscape project page “66 Hudson Boulevard Terrace”

   The full Pfizer profile →

7. 

   07

   Sanofi · Paris, France

   A 1900s Paris building with its original Eiffel pillars, a rooftop terrace open to every employee — and 40% of the floor space shared.

   • 9,000 m² La Maison Sanofi, opened 2022
   • ≈ 500 people based at the headquarters
   • 14 weeks gender-neutral parental leave

   Two buildings joined into one behind their preserved Art Nouveau and Art Deco façades. Architect Franklin Azzi rebuilt the historic patio as an agora under a central atrium and added a glass storey on the roof; STUDIOS Architecture designed the interiors around hybrid work, with a “Kitchen” that serves as co-working space between meals, “Terraces” for visitors and a rooftop terrace open to all staff.

   Source: Facts: Sanofi press release (Nov 28, 2022) · Franklin Azzi Architecture project page “Grande Armée” · STUDIOS Architecture project page “La Maison Sanofi”.

   The full Sanofi profile →

8. 

   08

   Novo Nordisk · Bagsværd, Denmark

   A round headquarters in a park, with a spiral staircase inspired by the helix of the insulin molecule winding up under a glass dome.

   • 50,200 m² Corporate Center, two buildings (2013)
   • 14 weeks paid leave for non-birthing parents, worldwide
   • 47% of leaders are women (2025)

   Henning Larsen designed the Corporate Center as two white buildings in a green, hilly landscape at the heart of the Novo campus in Bagsværd. The six-storey round building is shaped after the helix of the insulin molecule: a spiral staircase with white balconies winds from the foyer to the executive floor, under a skylight that brings daylight into the whole atrium. A four-storey wedge-shaped building steps down the slope beside it. It houses top management and about 1,100 administrative employees.

   Source: Facts: Henning Larsen project text (Architizer, World-Architects) · Henning Larsen video (2012) · MT Højgaard project page “Novo Nordisk Head Office”.

   The full Novo Nordisk profile →

9. 

   09

   GSK · London, United Kingdom

   A vertical farm, more than 800 live plants on 12 floors and circadian lighting — in a new central London headquarters.

   • 800+ live plants across 12 floors
   • ≈ 3,000 people based at the London HQ
   • 18 weeks parental leave, primary and secondary carers

   GSK left Brentford in 2024 for a new building on the corner of New Oxford Street and Earnshaw Street. PENSON designed the workplace around choice and wellbeing: a vertical farm grows fresh produce for the food offer, more than 800 live plants run through the floors, circadian lighting covers the open-plan areas and a gym sits on Level 9.

   Source: Facts: GSK press release (Dec 12, 2022) · PENSON project page “GSK” · Overbury case study “GSK”. Photos are added later with credit to the designer and builder.

   The full GSK profile →

10. 

    10

    Eli Lilly and Company · Indianapolis, Indiana

    150 years in the same city, two child development centers on the headquarters campus, and 12 weeks of paid leave for every new parent.

    • 13,583 people working in Indianapolis
    • 2 child development centers on campus
    • 12 weeks paid leave for every new parent

    Lilly Corporate Center is not one tower but a collection of buildings acquired and built over many years. A formal lobby and concourse with satinwood paneling and patterned marble floors, plus a skylit dining pavilion split into six areas by wooden trellises, tie the older buildings together. Newer additions include a wellness center that doubles as the entrance for employees who bike to work, a running track and soccer field, and a 57,000 sq ft conference center.

    Source: Facts: Lohan Anderson project page “Eli Lilly” · Meyer Najem project page “Eli Lilly Corporate Wellness Center Building & East Commons” · Indiana Steel Fabricating project page “Eli Lilly Conference Center” · careers.lilly.com Life benefits · lilly.com Key facts · lilly.com story “Powering Progress in Indianapolis” (Sep 21, 2023)

    The full Eli Lilly and Company profile →

11. 

    11

    Takeda · Tokyo, Japan

    A 24-storey Tokyo headquarters designed around eight kanji for “life force”, in the Nihonbashi district where Takeda has worked for more than 100 years.

    • 45,578 m² floor area, 24 floors above ground
    • 1,300 people on the renovated office floors
    • +20% company top-up on employee share buying (Japan)

    Creative director Kashiwa Sato built the interiors around the idea of “life force”: eight kanji — life, water, light, earth, trees, people, connections and future — turned into modern artwork on walls, carpets and ceiling lights, with wood used throughout. The public entrance on the 1st floor has a wooden art wall and a water basin; the main lobby on the 4th floor opens to the outside. In 2023 Gensler redesigned the office floors for Takeda's “Ways of Working”, adding a Learning Center, XD Labs and “Engawa Hiroma”, a meeting space based on traditional Japanese architecture.

    Source: Facts: Takeda news releases (Mar 20 and Jul 2, 2018) · Nihon Sekkei project page · Nikken Sekkei Construction Management project page (2023 renovation) · Nikkei New Office Award 2024 entry (NOPA) · kashiwasato.com

    The full Takeda profile →

How we made this: every fact, photo and credit comes from the company profiles on eciffo, which cite the company’s own reports, press releases and architects. We add companies as their profiles are finished, so this list grows.