„Re/View the Next“

Sustainability needs densification. Our burgeoning cities and infrastructures call for complex systems and design agendas. We need to rethink the collective spaces of interaction within the dense urban fabric. This will require a carving out of green, social and public spheres within built up areas or previously monofunctional, inaccessible sites. The planning methodologies and digital tools enabling these transitions at an urban scale are adaptable to these tasks. Holistic planning for cities is now within our reach.

We live in dense, built up urban environments knowing that by 2050, an additional 2.5 billion people will need accommodating with additional living and working spaces. Our working lives are increasingly hybridised and the networks, both public and private, real and virtual that we live and work by have transformed the way we interact and learn from one another. As live/work spaces are scaled up and designed to fit these overlapping needs, it’s time to think in urban ecosystems and infrastructures - where creativity and communication are given space to flourish, where a multiplicity of uses can be encompassed within vertical structures, and green spaces are an inherent part of the negotiation.

The transformation of existing structures and heritage sites has become a primary and crucial goal for our profession in the interests of sustainability and circular building. The projects we showcase here could not be more diverse. Each case is an excursion into existing architectural potentialties as well as identities - a sense of cultural belonging. HPP have consistently refurbished architectural icons over decades. Re-use strategies generate a far greater identification with the rich spatial resources that surround us.

Construction has a consequential impact on the environment - accounting for over 40% of carbon emissions. It's crucial to embed innovative and sustainable principles in new builds at every scale. As we establish positive re-use values and generate an ecological footprint by way of C2C principles we're galvanising shared expertise at every stage of the value-creation chain - and overcoming the silo mentality along the way. This co-design enterprise can also build on foundational projects of the past, where HPP's partners have led the way to construction innovations that are still relevant today.

Faced with the pressures of environmental change urban resilience has to become a core motivation for us as architects and planners. Neighbourhoods that are diverse, and offer a mix of uses at a manageable scale can achieve the integrated approaches that are both resourceful and benefit a sense of wellbeing. The greater the engagement of the citizens in the process, the greater the shared sense of belonging. As we commit to circularity in the construction of such quarters, we also lay the groundwork for environments that are both regenerative and mindful of a human-centered approach.

HPP is currently undergoing a period of reflection and renewal accompanied by a multi-layered discourse of creative innovation labs. With regard to sustainable needs, input from collaborative partners internationally and a trans-generational approach, HPP is re-shaping the practice as well as progressing the Next Level process.