Working collaborations between architectural firms are becoming increasingly common. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, ‘collaboration’ is simply ‘the action of working with someone to produce something.’
This merely scratches the surface of its true meaning.
For the last 40 years Hames Sharley has embraced numerous projects undertaken as working partnerships, and by engaging in these traditionally larger assignments, we have benefitted from the opportunity to learn as well as share our own knowledge with our collaborators.
In recent years the advantages of having a wider, national organisational structure have given us access to a broader knowledge base internally. However, it is often a prerequisite that projects of magnitude are undertaken by collaborations and consortiums, often with international members as part of the team.
This continued growth within the firm has placed us in a position to now commit our efforts to the most ambitious projects and collaborations. That’s very exciting.
If approached in the right spirit, working collectively on an architectural project sparks ideas and innovations from the group that it wouldn’t otherwise have been possible to deliver. The interactions and dialogue between the different parties create a mix of voices that results in a new language of ideas, one that is bespoke and befitting to the project in hand.
We have been delighted to work with numerous architectural firms in Australasia and overseas over the years. Many of these practices are renowned internationally – Fosters + Partners, UNStudio, Wonderwall and AART, to name a few. From these firms, we have been able to learn and continually refine our design processes to deliver large-scale projects which we believe are of outstanding architectural significance.
Happily, we are not the only ones who see the significance of these projects. In recent weeks, our working collaborations have helped deliver some awards of which we are very proud, in particular, Australian Institute of Architecture State Chapter awards. These include:
We are also part of the consortium recently shortlisted to deliver the new Perth Museum (alongside Foster + Partners and John Holland).
- Fiona Stanley Hospital Design Collaboration (comprising Hassell, Hames Sharley and Silver Thomas Hanley), which has been honoured with four awards including the Western Australia Chapter’s most prestigious prize, The George Temple Poole Award.
- The Adelaide Oval Redevelopment (Cox Architecture, Walter Brooke and Hames Sharley), which has been recognised in five categories including the esteemed Jack McConnell Award for Public Architecture at the South Australia edition.
- Griffith Health Centre (Cox Architecture in association with Hames Sharley) received an award for Educational Architecture at the Queensland Chapter awards.
- Internationally, we have also recently been shortlisted for four World Architecture Awards as well as an INSIDE Award for work done in the field of interior design; each of these nominations is the result of design collaborations with one or more other practices.
What do awards mean to us here at Hames Sharley? We feel this recognition shows that working cooperatively on an assignment can be a strategic success in achieving a unified goal.
Through these joint ventures, we have been able to quickly access new skills and thought processes. In turn, introducing new skills has enabled the company to be at the forefront of innovation, creativity and design across the sector.
Collaborations also allow Hames Sharley to expand the services that the company can offer clients. Our development and growth comes from project experiences and playing an active role in the research and cross-pollination of skills and knowledge to employees, clients and the wider community. This has helped Hames Sharley to remain innovative by offering global research and knowledge to deliver projects to an exceptional standard.
To all our partners, collaborators and clients, we would like to say thank you for the trust and opportunities afforded to us.
