Celebrating 30 years of sport and venue design at Hassell

By Lucy O’Driscoll, Sector Leader – Sports and Culture

As the year draws to a close, Hassell marks an extraordinary milestone — thirty years dedicated to shaping the world of sport and culture through visionary design, collaboration and an unwavering commitment to legacy.

When we reflect on our journey, we’re filled with pride at the impact our work has made, not simply through grand stadiums or winning awards but in how we’ve contributed to building places people genuinely love and connect with, generation after generation.

Completion of a building or place is only the beginning. A project proves its worth through years of use, adaptation and connection - when it becomes part of everyday life and is recognised as belonging to its community. 

When we look back on our journey, what stays with us most isn’t the scale of the buildings or the recognition they’ve received. It’s the moments that happen within them. The roar of a crowd. A family picnic before a match. Music drifting across a public square. These are the experiences that remind us why we do what we do, creating places where people gather to share something they love.

A SHARED LEGACY SHAPED TOGETHER

Over the past three decades, our work across sport, culture and public spaces has taken us from Olympic precincts to local community grounds, across continents and cultures. Each project is different, but the intent is always the same: to bring architecture, interior design, landscape architecture and urban design together to shape places that feel generous, welcoming and deeply connected to their communities.

We’ve been fortunate to contribute to projects that have become part of everyday life for many people. Optus Stadium in Perth is one of these, not just as a venue for sport and events but as a place where the city comes together. Set within parklands and connected to the river, it has become as much about walking, gathering and belonging as it is about what happens on the field.

At Sydney Olympic Park, long-term thinking has enabled a former industrial site to evolve into a living legacy of the 2000 Games. Years after the final ceremony, it continues to grow as a place for recreation, culture and community life, adapting with each new generation.

ICC Sydney at Darling Harbour reflects a similar ambition. Conceived as a place people would return to again and again, it weaves together theatres, convention spaces, public plazas and waterfront paths. Today it’s alive at all hours, with families, performers, conference delegates and festival goers sharing the same streets and spaces.

In Melbourne, our landscape architects are working on Laak Boorndap, a richly layered public space at the heart of the Arts Precinct Transformation. Designed as a biodiverse, immersive landscape, it will offer moments of pause, gathering and performance - a natural counterpoint to the surrounding cultural institutions and a lasting gift to the city.

Our work internationally carries this same ethos. From new precincts in Sohar, Oman, designed for daily life as much as major events, to Doha’s Grand Terminal in Qatar - a flexible civic place that shifts between cruise terminal, cultural venue and public destination - we focus on adaptability, openness and use over time. These are places shaped to be lived in, not just visited.

RESPECTING COUNTRY AND CULTURE

Creating places people love starts with listening. Across Australia, this means working closely with Traditional Custodians to understand and respect the stories of Country. At Optus Stadium, collaboration with Whadjuk Noongar representatives informed the landscape, artworks and narratives across the precinct, embedding culture in ways that are felt, not just seen. These partnerships enrich projects and deepen people’s connection to place.

CARING FOR THE FUTURE

Sustainability and regenerative design are not an add-on to our work; it’s part of the responsibility we hold dearly as designers of large, city-making places. We aim to create environments that respond to climate, support biodiversity and serve communities well beyond a single event or season. 

From native planting and ecological corridors to water-sensitive design, low-carbon materials and adaptable planning, our focus is on longevity and care. At Sydney Olympic Park, green infrastructure and community spaces sit alongside major venues, supporting both human and environmental life. Across our projects, we design for active transport, efficient operations and spaces that can evolve as needs change.

PLACES FOR PARTICIPATION AND BELONGING

Sport, music and performance have a unique ability to bring people together - and the places that host them should reflect that spirit. Whether it’s a packed stadium, a riverside concert, or a local sporting hub, we design spaces that invite participation and feel open to all. 

Projects such as Adelaide Oval, the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), and Shanghai’s West Bund Waterfront demonstrate how large civic places can remain flexible, inclusive and human-scaled. They are places to watch, to move through, to meet, and to belong, both on event days and every other day.

LOOKING AHEAD

As we mark thirty years of designing sport and cultural venues and precincts, we do so with gratitude, to our clients, collaborators and communities who shape these places with us. 

Our purpose remains simple: to create places people love. Legacy, for us, isn’t about permanence alone. It’s about memory, meaning, and connection built quietly into every decision, every space, and each detail. 

We look forward to continuing this work, shaping places where passion is shared, culture is celebrated, and people come together to create moments that last far beyond the final whistle or encore.

Photography Credits

Top, left-to-right: Optus Stadium, Perth. Photography by Peter Bennetts. Sydney Olympic Park. Photography by Max Creasy. ICC Sydney. Photography by Brett Boardman. Optus Stadium, Perth. Photography by Peter Bennetts. 

Bottom row, left-to-right: West Bund Waterfront, Shanghai. Photography by Hinok Cai. Adelaide Oval. Photography by Steve Rendoulis. Laak Boorndap Test Garden, Melbourne Arts Precinct. Photography by Sarah Pannell. Melbourne Cricket Ground. Photography by John Gollings.