Hassell Talks

Naturalistic Planting | Part 2: Is 'native' the only answer to the biodiversity question?

The debate around native or exotic urban planting can sometimes be a thorny one, culturally, environmentally and emotionally and over the longer term, climate change brings the role of planting and landscape into sharp focus as we consider the future health of our cities.
Wholly exotic landscapes bring with them issues of culture, context and invasive issues. Perhaps the answer is somewhere in the middle.
Carefully controlled “wild” environments like small pocket parks or larger spaces like New York's famous High Line in are vastly different, but non-native plants play a crucial role alongside native species. In this way designers are ensuring biodiversity, eco-systems and cultural aspects are all catered and cared for.
Jon Hazelwood joins Professor James Hitchmough and internationally acclaimed garden designer Piet Oudolf to propose a different, less binary way of thinking about natives and non-natives. Together they look at why carefully considered planting needs to be seen at scale, and for people, ecology and wildlife.

Naturalistic Planting | Part 1: What's the value of nature in the city anyway?

It might be hard to measure, but we know interacting with nature has an impact on our emotions – and that’s never been more apparent in cities during lockdown. But does the kind of planting we encounter in urban environments matter? Are planned and cultivated spaces what we need, or could we be craving ‘wilder’, less predictable landscapes that fully immerse us in nature?
In Part 1 of a mini-series investigating naturalistic planting in our urban environments, Jon Hazelwood joins Claudia West – director of Phyto studio and co-author of Planting in a Post-Wild World – and Robert Hammond, co-founder and CEO of The High Line, about planting the seeds for a deeper, more fulfilling relationship with nature, whatever the space, scale or budget.
Hassell Talks is brought to you by international design studio, Hassell.

A better fit: tailoring design for a sustainable future

Beyond the impeccable dress sense, designers working in fashion and city-making have a lot in common - both sectors can have indisputable impacts on the world - on a very large scale.
Right now they also have an opportunity to think more deeply about the impact of their work on people, places and our collective future.
While fashion is often fast and seasonal and architectural design is often a longer process, both are responsible for dictating trends and aspirations – and both can generate significant amounts of waste.
Interplanetary architect Xavier de Kestelier, got together with Christopher Raeburn, Creative Director at Timberland and sustainable fashion brand RÆBURN, to talk about whether the similarities in supply chain and more collaboration between the industries could lead to greater sustainability overall. 

Autonomy, mastery and meaning: What the next generation of design talent wants. With Jan Owen AM and Steve Coster.

Can design firms be truly future-focused if they’re not appealing to the next generation? What will attract the best designers of the future? How do firms give talent the right platforms to make a positive difference?
We are obsessed with how design can make a difference in the future. We asked Jan Owen AM, Co Chair / Convenor of Learning Creates Australia, and former CEO of Foundation for Young Australians, and Hassell's Steve Coster to uncover what makes tomorrow’s design leaders tick, what they’re looking for – and how to unleash their world-changing potential.
Hassell Talks is produced by international design practice, Hassell. 

S1, Ep8 The architectural scientist and the scientific architect. With Sanjeev Gupta and Xavier de Kestelier

Stepping carefully up to the crater’s edge, white boots kicking up swirls of red dust, the figure lowers themselves carefully down to sit on an ancient boulder - and pulls out an A3 sketchpad.
The stranger surveys the Martian landscape, interrogates the form and flowing expanse in front of them and starts to sketch out a narrative created over millions of years. They fill their empty page with illustrations telling the story of the planet and its potential for life.
What is this space-traveller, are….what, exactly? A scientist? An artist? Or both?
Sanjeev Gupta, professor of Earth Science at Imperial College London and part of the Mars Curiosity rover mission currently exploring Gale Crater for NASA joins interplanetary architect Xavier de Kestelier to examine the necessity of blurred boundaries between science and architecture, if humans are to successfully live on the Red Planet.
Hassell Talks is produced and brought to you by international design practice, Hassell.

S1, Ep7 What can emergencies teach us about design? With Greg Kochanowski, Molly Peterson and Richard Mullane

Events like COVID-19, wildfires and hurricanes teach us valuable lessons about the way people – and the public places built for them – respond and recover post disaster.
If they’re not confined to their homes, communities are separated – scattering to places for medical attention, shelter or to the comfort of community. They could find themselves anywhere from a sports stadium to a community hall - to a beach.
Greg Kochanowski, Studio Director at Rios Clementi Hale, and climate & science reporter Molly Peterson join Hassell's Richard Mullane in this podcast to discuss how resilience – the ability for an environment to recover – isn’t developed in the aftermath of a disaster.
The foundations are built way before, so that when emergencies do come, people are strong enough to get through them. It’s less about what’s built and more about what’s designed for – a different kind of design thinking that should be part of the ‘new normal’.

S1, Ep6 Student life: Why the campus is still critical to the university experience

Universities want to show their students and academics a really good time - the better the experience, the more appealing it is to stay a while for study, work and play.
The multi-million dollar marketing campaigns may draw in the curious crowds, but what makes them stick around? Researcher Michaela Sheahan hosted a panel conversation in our Brisbane studio with collaborators and clients to hear what clients and Universities see happening, and what they believe is necessary in the experience of students on campus.
 
Acknowledgement:
This episode of Hassell Talks was recorded in both Wurundjeri and Turrbal Country. We pay our respects to elders past and present. We acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the First Australians and Traditional Custodians of the land where we live, work, and learn.
Credit:
Edited & Produced by Prue Vincent

S1, Ep5 Humanitarian Architecture: how powerful design can help change the world. With Bryan Bell, Dr Esther Charlesworth and Mark Loughnan

From a powerful example of design’s crucial role of healing in post-genocide Rwanda to a city’s solution to homelessness, this episode of HassellTalks examines how deploying, measuring and demonstrating the value of design is critically important to addressing the most pressing humanitarian challenges of our time.
Designers have “freaking superhero” skills, says architect Bryan Bell of the Public Interest Design Movement, and South Carolina’s Design Corps.
They rapidly visualise multiple solutions and design assets, creating countless – limitless – ideas in a single day. But they’re not so great at measuring and articulating that value - meaning they sometimes get sidelined. With our world facing the complex challenges of climate, inequality, food, water and political insecurity: a superhero is what the world needs right now.
As part of Humanitarian Architecture Week we recorded a panel conversation in our Melbourne studio between Dr Esther Charlesworth from Architects Without Frontiers, Bryan Bell from Design Corps and Hassell Principal Mark Loughnan.
 
Acknowledgement:
This episode of Hassell Talks was recorded on the lands of the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin nation. We pay our respects to elders past and present. We acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the First Australians and Traditional Custodians of the land where we live, work, and learn.
Credits:
Edited & Produced by Prue Vincent

S1, Ep4 Why the best designed cities reflect the best of us. With Ross de la Motte and Ralph Ashton

Sydney today faces the same pressures as all modern cities – growth, resources, infrastructure and resilience.
The interpersonal fabric of modern-day Sydney contrasts to its healthy past – the challenges of isolation and a vast mental health crisis in our communities, pervasive social media, our collective response to climate change and biodiversity emergencies, and the pressures on housing and equity in a rapidly growing metropolis.
Do the answers to these current challenges lie more with the community itself than governments? Have we forgotten how to design for love and belonging?
Ross de la Motte invited Ralph Ashton, founder of the Australian Futures Project to talk about short-termism in city shaping, how Australians really feel about what’s going on in their cities, and how everyone – from the top down – has a role to play in imagining a better future for ourselves.
 
Acknowledgement:
This episode of Hassell Talks was recorded on the lands of the Gadigal people. We pay our respects to elders past and present. We acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the First Australians and Traditional Custodians of the land where we live, work, and learn.
 
Credits:
Edited & Produced by Prue Vincent

S1, Ep3 The ’cool’ test: What can advertisers teach us about designing places people love? With Adam Ferrier and Andy Low.

Fact: People are willing - happy even - to pay more for their scrambled eggs if they're eating them in a 'cool' cafe. The value of 'cool' to business is undisputed.
But if we take it a step further, can large organisations really embody 'cool' - and attract talent - when it comes to designing their workplaces?
Here's where the advertising industry really excels. They've had the jump on designers and developers when it comes to understanding people and grabbing their attention. They know how to make audiences feel, think and behave - all invaluable to creating exceptional places to work.
Our designer Andy Low joined brand strategist Adam Ferrier, who's been behind some of Australia's best known advertising campaigns. Tune in for a lively conversation on the power of brand thinking and the value of 'cool' in design.
 
This episode of Hassell Talks was recorded on the lands of the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin nation. We pay our respects to elders past and present. We acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the First Australians and Traditional Custodians of the land where we live, work, and learn.

S1, Ep2 Solving the ’problem’ with academic workplace

It’s a brave dean that tests out a new way of working on academics and research staff - and yet that’s exactly what the School of Engineering at the University of Melbourne did.
The future workspace at the Melbourne School of Engineering (MSE) will need to accommodate over 1800 users across three locations by 2025.
To provide for its people and its industry collaborators – its workplace would need to become quite different. Anticipating the challenge that comes with a new way of working, the school commissioned a pilot workplace study called 'Space Lab' – a reference to a living lab, where ‘researcher’ becomes the ‘researched’.
Principal Evodia Alaterou invited MSE’s Professor Andrew Western from the Department of Infrastructure Engineering in to step through the experiment. 
 
Acknowledgement
This episode of Hassell Talks was recorded on the lands of the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin nation. We pay our respects to elders past and present. We acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the First Australians and Traditional Custodians of the land where we live, work, and learn.
 
Credits
Edited and Produced by Prue Vincent

S1, Ep1 The 60,000 year gap in the Australian design scene. With Elisapeta Heta and guests

A glance at any Australian town or city shows one of the world’s oldest continuous cultures is largely absent. A side note, rarely the headline.
And is it any wonder, with only around 20 Indigenous Australian architects practicing in 2019? It’s not just an Australian story.
There’s a lot to be learned from other experiences too. In the first episode of our Hassell Talks podcast, we hear from Elisapeta Heta, Māori Design Leader from New Zealand’s Jasmax.
She tells us about her journey in embedding a Māori perspective into New Zealand’s design industry – and the long game of helping designers and communities create the kind of cultural safety that supports indigenous engagement.
Acknowledgement:
This episode of Hassell Talks was recorded on the lands of the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin nation. We pay our respects to elders past and present. We acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the First Australians and Traditional Custodians of the land where we live, work, and learn.
Credits:
Production by Prue Vincent and Jessica van Hecke