Hassell (architecture firm)

History

Hassell was founded in Adelaide, South Australia in 1938.

From 1937, Colin Hassell worked with Philip R. Claridge and Associates, with Claridge, Hassell and McConnell being established as a partnership which included Jack McConnell. Hassell served in the Australian Army during the Second World War, resuming his place in the firm in 1945. After Claridge retired in 1949, the firm became Hassell, McConnell and Partners, and established offices in Melbourne and Canberra. In 1962 John Morphett joined the practice, who was very influenced by the Bauhaus and modernist movements. In the 1970s the firm became Hassell and Partners Pty. Ltd., with Hassell as Senior Principal and also Managing Director of the group. During this period, additional offices were opened in Sydney, Melbourne and Perth.

Hassell and Partners Pty Ltd designed the Adelaide Festival Centre in 1970, with the Adelaide Festival Theatre opened in 1973.

After 1978, the firm became simply Hassell.

In 2010 the firm was ranked the largest architecture company in Australia and the 25th largest in the world, and retained the Australian ranking for the following two years in the BD World Architecture 100 annual survey.

In 2019, Hassell, then the second-largest design firm in Australia, announced that they would be closing their Adelaide office upon completion of existing projects in 2021, so it could focus on larger urban centres. The existing projects included the Adelaide GPO development, the Adelaide Festival Centre redevelopments, and the expansion of Adelaide Airport terminal. Although the physical office closed, the firm continued to undertake work in Adelaide, via a consultancy which set up by the three principal architects based in Adelaide.

Accolades

The firm has received Australian Institute of Architects national awards for the Sydney Olympic Park railway station (1998), the VS1/SA Water building in Adelaide (2009), ANZ Centre in Melbourne's Docklands, the railway stations of the Epping to Chatswood railway line (2010), and the Australian National University Birch Building Refurbishment (2022).

In 2008, the Hawke Building at the University of South Australia's City West campus, which Hassell designed in collaboration with Wardle, won the RAIA's national award, the Sir Zelman Cowen Award for Public Architecture, as well as the RAIA SA Jack McConnell Award of Merit for Public Architecture and Award of Merit for Interior Architecture.

In 2023, the firm won a Civic Trust Award for the First Light Pavilion Visitor's Centre at Jodrell Bank Observatory.

Selected projects

The firm's first major project was the Art Deco building at 2 King William Street for the Bank of New South Wales.

Australia

• Adelaide Festival Centre, Adelaide, Australia, 1973
• Olympic Park railway station, Sydney, Australia, 1998
• Hawke Building, UniSA, Adelaide, 2007
• North Ryde railway station, North Ryde, Australia, 2009
• ANZ Centre, Docklands, Australia, 2010
• Fiona Stanley Hospital, Perth, Australia 2013
• National Institute of Dramatic Art Graduate School, Sydney, Australia, 2015
• Perth Stadium, Perth, Australia, 2017
• Western Australian Museum (WA Museum Boola Bardip), Perth, Australia, 2019, Designed with OMA
• UWA EZONE Student Hub, Perth, Australia, 2020
• AMRF First Building (as part of the Aerotropolis Masterplan for Western Sydney Airport), Sydney, In progress
• Melbourne Arts Precinct Transformation, Melbourne, In progress

United Kingdom

• Sky UK London HQ (Sky Central Workplace), London, 2016
• Brighton Business School, Brighton, 2021
• First Light Pavilion Visitor's Centre (Jodrell Bank Observatory), Macclesfield, 2022

China

• HSBC QRC Suites, Hong Kong, 2021

Gallery

File:Olympicrailstationsydney.jpg|Olympic Park railway station, Sydney, Australia File:North Ryde station entrance.jpg|North Ryde railway station, Sydney, Australia File:ANZ Docklands.jpg|ANZ Centre, Docklands, Australia File:New WA Museum construction, December 2019 01.jpg|Western Australian Museum (WA Museum Boola Bardip), Perth, Australia

References

References

1. Bleby, Michael. (2019-10-28). "Hassell to close founding Adelaide office".
2. "Architects of South Australia". [[University of South Australia]].
3. "Architects of South Australia". [[University of South Australia]].
4. (10 February 2010). "Hassell in top 25". [[The Age]].
5. (14 October 2020). "Hassell to close founding Adelaide studio".
6. [http://www.architecture.com.au/awards_search?entryno=&showstyle=1&location=-1&awards=2&browseyears=-1&option=search&search=advanced&keyword=HASSELL&field=-1&majorcat=-1&minorcat=-1 Australian Institute of Architects], retrieved 22 February 2011
7. "2022 National Architecture Awards - Winners Gallery - Australian Institute of Architects".
8. "Hawke Building".
9. "First Light Pavilion Visitor’s Centre".
10. (2010-11-23). "ANZ Centre / Hassell".
11. "Our history".
12. Gubana, Benjamin. (2019-12-19). "It was a 'complicated' and 'difficult' project, but the new $396m WA Museum building is finally finished".
13. . (n.d.). ["EZONE UWA"](https://www.cm.uwa.edu.au/projects-and-works/current-projects/ezone-uwa).
14. Oscar Holland. (5 January 2023). "The new buildings set to shape the world in 2023".
15. "Team appointed to design Melbourne Arts Precinct public realm {{!}} Arts Centre Melbourne".
16. "'Dramatic, diverse' planting design for proposed Melbourne Arts Precinct public spaces".
17. Philip Stevens. "AL_A, HASSELL + PLP complete flagship sky central workplace in west london".
18. Fran Williams. "Hassell completes final phase of Brighton university masterplan".
19. Ellie Stathaki. "Explore astronomy at Jodrell Bank's First Light Pavilion in Cheshire".