by Paul McGillick
Indesign (Australia)
no. 47, December 2011 - February 2012
pp. 68-75
Indesign featured the HASSELL-designed one40william building in its December2011 issue. One40william is part of a transformation of Perth's city centre, and as the article notes, "one40william highlights HASSELL's great strength – namely, its commitment to respecting the bigger urban picture. HASSELL buildings never stand alone. Rather, they collaborate with their context to create a richer urban experience. This is certainly the case with one40william, which recognises the potential of this part of the CBD by acting as an urban hub."
Peter Lee, project leader of one40william, says that "in that part of town, it's important to reflect the existing grain and scale. It was about being polite to the surroundings, this was one of the major drivers when we did the design of the railway station."
One40william is an example of social, urban and environmental sustainability, with the staggered design of the building acting to shade itself from the harsh Perth sunlight.
The article notes that, "The expressed form of the building communicates what HASSELL refers to as an 'inside-out' approach. Not only does it make for a 'polite' building in a very specific urban context, but it also reveals a building which is very much about the process of living in the city - all the related transactions, interactions and connections which go to make up a 24-houf city."
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