Hassell aligns global design studios in one visual workspace

At-a-Glance

• Industry: Architecture, urban & interior design
• Used for: Site analysis, design development, consultant reviews, documentation
• Outcomes: Greater global alignment, improved design reviews, increased external collaboration

About Hassell

Hassell is an international architecture, design, and urban planning firm with studios in Australia, Asia, Europe, and the U.S. With a legacy of over 80 years, Hassell integrates multidisciplinary teams across time zones to design spaces that help people connect better — and operates with integrated design delivery at its core.

The challenge

Design reviews across multiple studios were time-consuming and inconsistent. Teams juggled file transfers, markups, and coordination calls across time zones. Maintaining project momentum, especially for hybrid and globally distributed teams, required frequent check-ins, long email threads, and painstaking version control.

“We wanted a tool to digitize ideas. Bluescape is the best tool allowing us to add people from outside our organization into a project, which is crucial for architecture,” said Xavier De Kestelier, Head of Design Technology and Innovation for Hassell. 

The solution

Hassell adopted Bluescape to centralize all project visuals and decision-making. From early-stage precedent research and site analysis to design development, consultant coordination, and construction documentation reviews, everything now happens in shared Bluescape workspaces accessible across all nine studios.

Team members add models, images, notes, and overlays in real time or asynchronously. Project leaders can track decisions visually, compare iterations, and invite clients or consultants into focused review sessions. Bluescape now acts as the project’s living record – a centralized hub where the design story evolves and decisions are preserved. 

Today, Bluescape is embedded across Hassell’s entire project lifecycle and used consistently for design and construction projects across regions and disciplines. 

“We use Bluescape for almost every project from site analysis to design reviews,” said De Kestelier.

Bluescape has become Hassell’s single visual environment – a centralized space where every idea, file, and decision live and evolve.

Results

With Bluescape, Hassell has transformed how its studios work together—replacing long email chains, version confusion, and siloed feedback with a centralized visual workspace. Teams now collaborate in real time across time zones, review design iterations more efficiently, and invite clients and consultants into the process with ease. 

By having every file, markup, and decision in one shared space, Hassell has gained clearer visibility into project progress and accelerated key phases of the design and documentation lifecycle. 

Whether working from offices or remotely, designers across all nine studios operate with greater cohesion, speed, and confidence.

Bluescape’s impact extended beyond workflow efficiencies. During the pandemic, Hassell scaled from nine studios to over 750 “home” studios, each with its own Bluescape board. Teams collaborated seamlessly across time zones and geographies to mark up designs, track progress, and coordinate with consultants.

“Bluescape has led to a greater cadence in our collaboration and design review sessions, resulting in better design outcomes regardless of project time zones and team location,” said Jonathan Irawan, Computational Design Lead at Hassell.

Bluescape benefits at Hassell

• Stronger design outcomes through faster more inclusive collaboration
• Real-time access to project workspaces across nine global studios
• Centralized record of decisions and iterations
• Clear visibility into project progress
• Increased efficiency from early design to construction documentation

Why it matters

Bluescape gives Hassell more than just time savings — it gives them a better way to design together. Today, every studio moves in harmony, with greater clarity, creative rhythm, and breakthrough results.