A new $41 million six storey office building for Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis demonstrates a new trend in workplace strategy and facilitating architecture.

Designed by HDR|Rice Daubney, the goal of the 9,885sqm Macquarie Park office building was to understand Novartis as a series of businesses and the fundamental character that binds them.

The building will house 800 employees throughout six storeys of flexible office floors connected via a central atrium space with glass lifts and open stairways, making all employee movement visible and interconnected.

The central space connects the ground floor lobby, café, and Novartis museum with the working levels, top level meeting rooms and the roof garden.

The interior layout evolved from the purpose of the building - to consolidate Novartis’businesses - and as such developed into a series of spaces to increase interaction and enhance the company's culture of collaboration and innovation.

The exterior renders of the building show a transparent linear rectangular "glass box" that is punctured by curved timber pylons and aluminium structures that make up the core of the building.

The building will have a large 20 metre setback which means that Novartis will not have to provide a new road in accordance with Council’s Macquarie Park Planning Proposal.

The project is being designed to achieve a 5 Star Green Star rating from the Green Building Council of Australia (GBCA) and a 5 Star energy rating from the National Australian Built Environment Rating System (NABERS).

It is slated for completion by late 2015.

Specially designed areas for group discussions and collaboration are found throughout the building, enabling the constant cross-pollination of staff, departments and ideas.

Images: HDR|Rice Daubney.

Nathan Johnson

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