The Novartis Head Office was the first truly urban corporate building to be built in Waterfall City. We were able to convince our Client to use it as a test case for an urban design philosophy of “buildings without fences”. This was combined with a commercial sensibility where semi-basements together with a grand urban staircase addressed a street connection and the fall of the site in the most economical way possible. The building is set on a narrow site that follows a curving street edge. It is made up of three office floors and three semi-basement parking levels.