Tony Grist speaks on developing coastal resources in UAE
HASSELL Principal and Head of the London Studio, Tony Grist, was recently one of the key presenters at the 4th Annual Urban Waterfronts Conference on Yas Island, Abu Dhabi. The delegates included industry leaders from around the world, from countries such as the USA, Sweden, Denmark and the UAE.
There is currently a lot of discussion on how best to develop the coastal resources of the UAE in a sustainable way and Tony presented the HASSELL approach to Darwin Waterfront in the Northern Territory, Australia.
Tony's talk focused on strategies for creating a sense of place and respecting heritage and the environment. In effect, this means creating a flexible master plan that enables communities to form and allows for change over the history of the development.
HASSELL liaised directly with the Northern Territory government in Australia on Darwin Waterfront. The brief was to develop a master plan that reconnected the city to the water, providing a new destination that responds positively to the history and climate of the location.
Following its successful completion, Darwin Waterfront has become a destination for local residents and tourists alike. It is a model for tropical high rise architecture and how design can remediate and invigorate previously industrial areas of a city.
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Felicity Roocke joins HASSELL to lead UK interior design and workplace teams
We are pleased to announce that Felicity Roocke has joined the HASSELL London studio as a Senior Associate and will lead the interior design and workplace teams in London and Cardiff.
Felicity was previously a Design Director at Sheppard Robson, working as a part of its award-winning ID:SR interior design group. She has diverse expertise in workplace, media, hospitality, education and residential projects and brings with her a wealth of UK experience. She has worked with high profile media clients at ID:SR, including work with both Channel 4 and the BBC.
Felicity joins HASSELL at an exciting time. In addition to opening studios in London and Cardiff in 2011, we have now delivered over a million square metres of workplace design for more than 1,000 diverse clients throughout the world.
"Joining HASSELL is a great opportunity to pursue a shared philosophy of integrated design, where interiors, architecture and landscape are conceived as a whole and internal environments are designed to reflect the client ethos and radically enhance the experience for building users," said Felicity Roocke.
Tony Grist, Head of Architecture and leader of the HASSELL London studio said, "We welcome Felicity to the London studio and are excited by the world-class experience that she brings to HASSELL. Her appointment consolidates our expertise and her experience with high profile international clients will greatly support our work in the sector."
For more information, please contact Felicity on +44 20 7490 7669 or at froocke@hassellstudio.com
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Finalists at Shenzhen social housing competition
HASSELL was a finalist in a recent competition for the design of social housing organised by the Shenzhen Centre for Design.
The competition to design social housing for Shenzhen was part of the 2011 Shenzhen-Hong Kong Bi-City Biennale of Urbanism/Architecture and the brief called for ideas that relate to three scales of thinking – 1 unit, 100 families, 10,000 people – encompassing urban design and planning, architecture and interior design.
The HASSELL scheme adopts the concept of 'reciprocal living', whereby people are able to interact with each other, share experiences as well as spaces and develop a stronger sense of community. This idea is applied at each of the three scales of the project – on a master planning level, building level and single unit scale.
As the country faces rapid urbanisation, the government of China addressed this problem by including a target to deliver 36 million new social housing units by 2015 in its 5-Year Plan, released in 2011.
Shenzhen is a city that would be targeted with social housing as it is one of the fastest growing cities in the world. It aims to deliver 240,000 new units to provide housing for approximately 800,000 people. This city has grown 400 times its original size in the last 40 years following investment and mass migration from all over China. The city's population is mostly transient and comprises a large number of young people, particularly single women. There is only limited land left to house future population growth and the demand on natural resources, such as water, is a key issue for its sustainable growth.
David Tickle from the HASSELL Shanghai studio, project leader for the competition design, was recently interviewed by regional news broadcaster Channel News Asia about the concept developed by HASSELL for affordable housing in China. Click here to see the interview on Channel News Asia.
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HASSELL participates in Litre of Light sustainability initiative
Pierre Greenway from the HASSELL Perth studio recently travelled to the Philippines to work with the MyShelter Foundation on the Litre of Light project. He met with the Executive Director of MyShelter Foundation and social entrepreneur, Illac Diaz, to learn more about this sustainability initiative which is helping to improve the standard of living in his country. A Litre of Light is a sustainable lighting solution that uses an extremely simple technology to light up the inside of homes without using electricity or fuel.
The solution consists of solar lights which are made with empty plastic bottles that are filled with a mixture of water and bleach. The bottles are then set half-way into a section of corrugated tin roofing. The water refracts light, the salt slows down evaporation and the bleach prevents mould from growing in the bottle, allowing the mixture and bottle to last for several years. Once installed, the bottle can provide light equivalent to a 50 watt light bulb on a bright day. The project has been successful in lighting up thousands of homes in the poorer villages across the Philippines and the MyShelter Foundation plans to light up a million residences by the end of 2012.
During his time in the Philippines, Pierre also had the opportunity to visit two other MyShelter projects: the Bottle School and the Bamboo School. The Bottle School is constructed from plastic PET bottles in lieu of bricks. This is a creative way to up-cycle used plastic and glass bottles, however, the building still faces challenges – for example, the rain water collecting in the bottles is a breeding ground for mosquitoes. The Bamboo School was constructed using bamboo, a concrete slab and a few concrete sections of wall. The school was designed to allow air to flow through the building so that in the event of a typhoon, the winds can move easily through the porous building and minimise stress on the structure.
Pierre's trip was sponsored by the Knowledge and Sustainability group at HASSELL. As a result of his involvement in the Litre of Light initiative, HASSELL has been invited by the Diaz family to design a community centre for the elderly in San Pablo in the Philippines. By combining HASSELL design expertise with local materials, process and knowledge, we hope to design a structure that will withstand the elements and demonstrate good sustainable design.
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Parkroyal Darling Harbour
HASSELL has been working on the Parkroyal Darling Harbour and the new lobby was recently unveiled
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Scott Walker reflects on IDEA
Scott Walker, Head of Interior Design at HASSELL, reflects on his time as jury member for this year's Interior Design Excellence Awards (IDEA) on Australian Design Review
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ArchDaily on Bjarke Ingels' visit to Sydney
ArchDaily covers the news of Bjarke Ingels' visit to Sydney, sponsored by HASSELL
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Designing for integrated education and research
How HASSELL designs for integrated education and research
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Rundle Mall in Adelaide
Ben Willsmore, HASSELL Senior Associate, discusses the Rundle Mall redevelopment in Adelaide that he is working on as project design leader
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Open plan offices - the pros and cons
Steve Coster, Head of Knowledge and Sustainability at HASSELL, discusses the pros and cons of open plan offices
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Developing Australia's regional towns
The SuperTowns initiative in Western Australia is discussed on Design Build Source
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Palm Island on IndesignLiveAsia
The Palm Island project takes its inspiration from the unique geography of Chongqing where the Yangtze River and Jialing River converge into one
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We Love Perth profiles young architect Carly Barrett
Young HASSELL architect and Creative Director of Open House Perth was profiled on We Love Perth
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Common Ground Sydney featured on Inhabitat
The World Architecture Festival award-winning Common Ground Sydney project features on Inhabitat with a special emphasis on its sustainability features
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Changing the face of Perth through architecture
Design Build Source looks at how the Perth CBD is changing with developments like the HASSELL-designed Brookfield Place
