HASSELL, London: Design-led, Bold, Courageous

“The HASSELL culture is very strong,” says Principal Julian Gitsham. “One of our core values is ‘think one HASSELL’ and be passionate about design. That runs through all our studios across the world. It is a consistent culture.”

HASSELL’s London office is pretty new to the group which also has studios in Australia, China and the US. It now employs 55 people in a new build office near Old Street designed by Waugh Thistleton and has space to grow to around 80. 

The ground floor office space allows the practice to engage with the street – another element which forms part of the HASSELL culture. “The London office feels like the teenager now moving into adulthood. It has a younger feel about it to the other HASSELL offices,” comments Gitsham. “In London we have a particular culture of looking beyond the obvious.” 

“We are in a very competitive market. The design culture and the sophistication of the market here is different to Australia, we are competing with the very best architects who are well established. We are trying to change our profile,” he adds. 

Common to all HASSELL offices is the way in which they approach design – it has a consistency which runs across all projects. “It is about researching, testing and then realising. Each project has three definite phases,” Gitsham explains. 

“There has to be a strong conceptual clarity and that has to connect to four filters: beauty, aspiration, function and context. Each project has to show how it has applied these to its concept.” 

All HASSELL offices have a focus on pin-up space, displaying the full story of a project along the walls. The London office is no different. In the lower ground floor studio space the back wall, which runs the length of the space, is covered in print outs of projects and there is also a culture of physical modelling and making.