by Giovanna Dunmall
On Office (UK)
February 2012
pp. 64-67
Leading UK workplace design magazine On Office recently interviewed Tony Grist, Head of Architecture at HASSELL and London studio leader, about the practice's recent arrival in the UK and Europe and its workplace design.
The article notes that, "at the core of HASSELL's success is a collaborative, inter-disciplinary approach, and an ability to work holistically on a project from masterplan right through to architecture, interiors and the public realm. Its non-hierarchical respect for all disciplines is shown in the backgrounds of its leaders, who are landscape architects or interior designers, as well as architects, by training."
One of the projects mentioned in the feature is ANZ Centre in Melbourne's Docklands and this urban campus is an exemplary example of the HASSELL workplace design philosophy, with the main principles being permeability, diversity and sustainability.
The article says that ANZ Centre, like most HASSELL projects, was the result of an "iterative and collaborative approach to concept design". HASSELL took the client to fifteen workplace projects around the world to analyse what was good and bad about each one of them.
The article also notes that, "another recurring theme for HASSELL is how the workplace and education sectors are increasingly crossing over as the former becomes more flexible and mobile through new technologies." Tertiary institutions are making better connections with the corporate world and increasingly have to compete for students by offering state-of-the-art facilities; hence the influence of the design of corporate workplaces on education institutions.
Speaking of client involvement in all HASSELL projects, the article concludes that "with this client-centred approach and their expertise in so many different project types and areas, the arrival of HASSELL in the UK and Europe is a breath of fresh air – can-do Australian air, at that."
Read the full article on the On Office website
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