HASSELL has received the hotly contested Workplace Over 1000sqm award at the 2018 IDEA held in Sydney on Friday 23 November.
The Interior Design Excellence Awards (IDEA) is Australia’s largest independent design awards program, celebrating the best of the country’s interior and product design.
The client swapped a beachside, campus environment for an urban location, in 30 The Bond – a low, lean commercial building nestled between Sydney’s historic The Rocks and the new Barangaroo waterfront business precinct. The HASSELL designed workplace represents a balance between humanity and technology – a place where art meets science and quality craftsmanship complements understated simplicity.
HASSELL Chairman and Head of Interior Design, Rob Backhouse, said the award is recognition of our commitment to creating places people love.
“At HASSELL we always design with the people who will use our spaces at the forefront of our minds. When it comes to workplaces we strive to create spaces that not only meet a client’s brief, but also where people want to spend a majority of their day. This award reinforces the hard work done by the entire design team to achieve this goal,” Rob said.
GSK House, Singapore, by HASSELL also received a judge’s Highly Commended recognition in the International category.
With its historic but run-down waterfront, San Francisco’s Port Authority decided to restore the shoreline that could greatly influence the future of the city both environmentally and economically.
The HASSELL proposal, titled ‘Resilience, Restoration, Access and Activation’, looks to preserve the significant history and culture of the waterfront while protecting against vulnerability to rising sea-levels, increasing public access and increasing the diversity of uses available to the public along the waterfront. Through restoring lost piers as public recreation, tourism, commercial and cultural functions, the proposal looks to fund significant public realm expansions along a new green Embarcadero.
Off the back of the recent Resilient by Design Bay Area Challenge HASSELL Principal Richard Mullane said preparing for the inevitable sea level rise while repairing former piers , could, and should, be the part of any vision adopted by the Port for the waterfront.
“This waterfront used to be a vibrant gateway to the world, but now more than 20 piers have been lost by decaying and falling into the bay. It’s clear that the main focus should be developing a shoreline for San Francisco that’s not only world class and resilient to future stresses, but also has a diversity of vibrant destinations for the residents of the city,” he said.
Utilising benchmarks HASSELL projects from Sydney’s wharfs, the proposal illustrates an array of possible adaptation approaches suitable for a diverse range of urban uses. From creating sports hubs and museums to mixed-use development and retail to open parks and wildlife sanctuaries, the corridor has the potential to offer far more public access to residents and visitors.
“This is a really important project for San Francisco with endless possibilities to give the public a diverse array of activities and attractions for people of all ages, backgrounds, and economic levels, but also rehabilitate and preserve important sites within the historic Embarcadero district,” Richard said.
For more information on our design, visit the San Francisco Port Authority website.
The HASSELL Futurespective exhibition marks the 80th anniversary of the founding of HASSELL. Held in Hong Kong and Shanghai, the exhibition looks at what we’ve learnt over the past 80 years designing places people love – places that have been successful for our clients and the people who use them.
Futurespective opened in Shanghai on Thursday 15 November and moves to Hong Kong on Wednesday 21 November. The exhibition features models of key global projects, Virtual/Augmented Reality, and behind the scenes content.
At the launch event in Shanghai, guests were invited to view displayed works and discuss the broad ranging changes that have influenced design over the past 80 years. HASSELL Managing Director Steve Coster said these exhibitions offer a great opportunity consider how the work we have completed over the past 80 years impacts cities and communities into the future.
“We are proud of having the opportunity to successfully transform cities, precincts and organisations – as well as shape who we are as a practice today.” Steve said.
It’s important for designers to look beyond workplace trends and instead focus on designing spaces that are as emotionally intelligent as they are technologically intuitive, according to HASSELL Principal Matthew Blain.
Matthew joined international film director, Dorris Dorrie and Alexander Rieck, Co-Director of LAVA (Laboratory for Visionary Architecture), , onstage in Stuttgart to explore the topic of senses at work. Matthew was keynote speaker at Remaultwen 2018, a conference drawing together visionary architectural approaches with film, scenography and brand communications.
Citing as an example Melbourne’s Medibank Place, the game-changing health-based workplace completed by HASSELL in 2014, Matthew explored the notion that designers must first understand the real needs of the workforce and, in turn, design spaces that meet employees’ neurological, sensory and physiological needs.
Also at the event, award-winning German film director Dorrie questioned what it is to work and why we do it. She suggested the current style of office working is counter-intuitive to creativity and encouraged the audience to take time to find a style of work that suits them. LAVA’s Reick explored the future of work and the ever-growing impact Artificial Intelligence will have on the spaces we design.
A vigorous debate followed, In discussing how these approaches to work become more nuanced based on culture and geographic influences, the panel agreed on a fundamental need to create places that meet the physical and social needs of people. In creating spaces that are comfortable, welcoming, beautiful and secure – regardless of the work that is taking place there – designers can help people perform at their best.
HASSELL has received international attention for its quality of BIM and collaboration on Perth’s Optus Stadium, designed by HASSELL COX HKS. Three HASSELL Design Technology representatives have been invited to Autodesk University in Las Vegas to showcase the stadium’s model, which has also received recognition at the Trimble BIM awards.
Autodesk University, an international conference that attracted over 10,000 people last year, aims to connect professionals who create, design, and inspire change within the industry.
HASSELL BIM Manager Julia Allen said that Autodesk University is the premier BIM conference in the world and an ideal setting to discuss the changing technology of architecture and design.
“It’s always exciting to be able to showcase HASSELL to a global audience, particularly a project on the scale of Optus Stadium,” Julia said.
“BIM is ingrained in everything we do at HASSELL and I look forward to seeing how our peers are also using it around the world,” Julia said.
HASSELL and the Optus Stadium model will be the focus of a main exhibit, and the model will be on display until at the Autodesk San Francisco Briefing Centre and Gallery until 2021.
Find out more information on Autodesk University here and the Autodesk San Francisco Briefing Centre and Gallery here.
Climate change hazards, such as sea and bay-level rise, the heat island effect and extreme weather events, pose significant and unprecedented challenges for cities the world over, threatening communities, infrastructure, and public safety.
Recognising the power of international collaboration, open conversation and design to discover innovative ways to tackle climate change impacts, HASSELL has teamed up with San Francisco’s Resilient By Design organisation to bring learnings from this year’s Rockefeller-backed design and community challenge to Australia.
Rather than wait for a natural disaster, the San Francisco Bay Area is proactively reimagining a better and more resilient future. Through the recent Resilient by Design (RBD) Bay Area Challenge San Francisco created a model for design and community-led resilience planning around the world.
A series of panel events in Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne will feature speakers including Gabriel Metcalf (CEO, Committee for Sydney, previously San Francisco Bay Area Planning and Urban Research Association), Amanda Brown-Stevens (Managing Director, Resilient by Design San Francisco), Beck Dawson (Chief Resilience Office, Metropolitan Sydney), and Toby Kent (Chief Resilience Officer, Resilient Melbourne).
HASSELL Principal and Urban Design Sector Leader, David Tickle said resilience is often narrowly interpreted as pertaining simply to climate change and resulting sea level rise.
“Climate change, rising sea levels, and increased temperatures are clearly all major influences on the resilience of city or community, but these naturally have flow on effects,” David said.
“Infrastructure failure, housing crisis, disease outbreak, cyber threats, and terrorism, are some other examples that can severely impact the long term resilience of cities, including Sydney, Melbourne, and Brisbane. This is why it’s so important to have open, ongoing conversations about how we plan and design the most resilient buildings, precincts and cities with a broad understanding of future challenges,” he said.
“Building urban resilience requires looking at a city holistically and through understanding the systems that make up the city. By strengthening the core of a city and better understanding the potential pressures it may face, a city can improve its longevity and the well-being of its citizens.
“The most important thing we have learnt from being involved in projects such as Resilient by Design is the capacity of individuals, communities, institutions, businesses and systems within a city to come together to survive, adapt and grow no matter what kinds of chronic stresses and acute shocks they experience,” David said.
Melbourne and Sydney are part of The Rockefeller Foundation’s 100 Resilient Cities network which focuses on planning for long-term resilience. The network supports the adoption and incorporation of a view of resilience that includes not just the shocks—earthquakes, fires, floods, etc.—but also the stresses that weaken the fabric of a city on a day-to-day or cyclical basis.
Through these actions, 100 Resilient Cities aims not only to help individual cities become more resilient, but will facilitate the building of a global practice of resilience among governments, NGOs, the private sector, and individual citizens.
“Even though Melbourne and Sydney are currently the only two Australian cities that are part of 100 Resilient Cities, we hope to increase awareness through the program of events and panel discussions and empower more people and communities to be engaged in this important initiative,” David said.
A keynote panel at Sydney Town Hall, partnering with Committee for Sydney, including Gabriel Metcalf (CEO, Committee for Sydney, previously San Francisco Bay Area Planning and Urban Research Association), Beck Dawson (Chief Resilience Office, Metropolitan Sydney), Amanda Brown-Stevens (Managing Director, Resilient by Design San Francisco), and Richard Mullane (Principal, HASSELL).
Amanda Brown-Stevens (Managing Director, Resilient by Design San Francisco) and Richard Mullane (Principal, HASSELL) will present a keynote address exploring the outcomes and learnings for the recent Resilient by Design Bay Area Challenge.
Amanda Brown-Stevens (Managing Director, Resilient by Design San Francisco), Toby Lodge (Principal, HASSELL) and Richard Mullane (Principal, HASSELL) will sit on a panel event partnering with Committee for Brisbane discussing the impact urban design can have on resilience of a city.
Amanda Brown-Stevens (Managing Director, Resilient by Design San Francisco) and Richard Mullane (Principal, HASSELL) will sit on a panel event partnering with City of Melbourne discussing the impact urban design can have on resilience of a city.
In 2018 HASSELL embarked on a mission with NASA to design the first human habitation on Mars. Now, the 2030: A Martian Odyssey Symposium for Extreme Habitats is the first step of a new network-based research platform to connect disciplines and industries.
HASSELL Principal and Head of Design Technology and Innovation Xavier De Kestelier said 2030: A Martian Odyssey is an opportunity to progress thinking on human-centric design and explore what it really means to create ‘places people love’.
“We hope this is the start of an evolving discussion that will draw together learnings from extreme habitats to develop visionary, innovative and scientifically grounded approaches to projects both on Earth and extra-planetary environments,” Xavier said.
The symposium, hosted by HASSELL in London, features a number of Europe’s most adventurous innovators ranging from polar explorers to inter-planetary scientists. Through the course of the day, they will discuss everything from strategies to ensure human survival in deep space, to the practical requirements of costs and the logistics of building in extreme environments.
“It’s a really exciting time to be exploring and pushing the boundaries of design and innovation, particularly when it comes to interplanetary exploration,” said Xavier.
Read more about 2030: A Martian Odyssey here.
Optus Stadium – designed by HASSELL COX HKS – and Darling Harbour Transformation – by HASSELL / HASSELL + Populous – have taken out top honours at the 2018 Australian Institute of Architects National Awards.
Winning two shortlisted categories, Optus Stadium was awarded The Colorbond Award for Steel Architecture and the National Public Architecture Award.
The stadium is transforming the way fans experience major sport and entertainment events, and re-shaping Perth and its landscape in the process. Every design decision for the multi-purpose, 60,000-seat stadium was about achieving a singular vision – an unsurpassed visitor experience every time, every event.
On presenting the awards, the jury cited: “Optus Stadium is an immensely complex undertaking that successfully resolved structural, social and commercial challenges to deliver a world class sporting arena.
HASSELL Principal Peter Dean said the awards once again highlight the incredible vision of the client and Perth in delivering such a city shaping project.
“Optus Stadium truly is a landmark project for the public that is changing the way fans experience sporting and entertainment events. It has received excellent recognition globally and to now have this recognition at the highest honor nationally, and by our peers, reinforces the hard work done by everyone involved in the project,” Peter said.
The Darling Harbour Transformation project was awarded the Walter Burley Griffin Award for Urban Design Award and is Sydney’s most significant urban renewal initiative in 20 years.
Working closely with clients Infrastructure NSW and Lendlease, HASSELL developed the urban design framework and designed the public realm for the entire 20-hectare precinct, including reinvigorated parklands, plazas and event spaces. The harbour-side precinct has been recognised for its integration of the public realm with the architecture of three new venues designed by joint venture HASSELL + Populous, now known as the International Convention Centre Sydney (ICC Sydney).
On presenting the award, the jury cited: “The reinvention of Darling Harbour is a significant moment in Sydney’s urban transformation. Long past its 1980s heyday, the precinct had become tired and congested, with limited visual or physical appeal. Although this is one of the city’s most visited public places, the redevelopment sought to enhance the urban experience – not just for tourists, but for residents and workers.
HASSELL Principal and Head of Landscape Architecture Angus Bruce said the national award is further recognition of the important role truly integrated urban design plays in shaping a city.