AILA award for HASSELL envisioning and sustainability system
The LESS System (Local-area Envisioning and Sustainability-scoring System), developed by HASSELL, has been recognised in the 2012 AILA National Landscape Architecture Awards for its excellence in research and communication.
LESS is a design decision-making framework developed to generate sustainable design solutions that lessen emissions, use of resources, and social disparity. It enables integrated mapping, measuring and monitoring of sustainability in urban areas across the four domains: social, infrastructure, governance and environmental. This allows for a triple bottom-line assessment in both the built environment and society, along with diagnosis of problems, and identification of strengths, weaknesses and successes in policy and planning.
HASSELL Spatial Technologies Leader, Arvind Varshney, has driven the LESS research and development program since mid-2008. The system has been applied to several projects to elicit vital information from existing data, ranging from creating new indicators of sustainability and indices that inform strategic decision-making, to comprehensive analysis of sustainability of existing precincts and their renewal design solutions.
LESS is an invaluable decision-making tool for landscape architects, urban planners and designers, and all levels of governance. It is scheduled for public release in December 2012.
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Read more articles for August 2012—

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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



