HLM has a proud history of producing thoughtful architecture that helps improve people’s lives. Places of education that inspire, healthcare environments that nurture, homes that are part of thriving communities, and infrastructure that is sustainable in every sense.
Architecture
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1/5 London Institute for Healthcare Engineering
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2/5 The Wave
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3/5 St. Andrews Student Accommodation
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4/5 Altnagelvin Hospital
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5/5 James McCune Smith Learning Hub
Design thinking
Our sense of social purpose drives us on and is at the heart of everything we do. And so, our design philosophy puts people at its centre.
We strive to create buildings that respond to their context and climate, as well as our client’s budget, with a focus on exploiting opportunities to make memorable places. Consequently, we don’t have a ‘signature-style’. Every design evolves as a solution to a unique set of challenges that we approach with ‘signature-thinking’ – this is a creative, thoughtful, and fun process that allows the character and ideas of each project to flourish in their own delightful way.
We call this ‘thoughtful design’.
We use our creativity to unlock the potential within each project to be the best it can, often working within financial restrictions, and always thinking about the whole life of a project and the impact on the people who will experience it. We allow the natural context of place, its history, its culture and its features to influence our design response. And we want to delight as well as satisfy our clients – that often means going beyond the brief, being innovative, and thinking about people’s emotional response to the built environment.
Philip Watson Chair and Head of Design
Thoughtful design in practice
We’ve put in place a definitive design framework that all our project teams must undertake. This process underpins our design philosophy of centring the human experience and the impact our work has on the environment.
Our simple framework responds to the three ‘C’s – climate, culture and context.
Our designers and clients use our innovative thoughtful design toolkit to advance their understanding of what people want and need from their built environment. And then the fourth ‘C’ is control – through regular, well-timed and structured design forums we ensure these three ‘C’s are properly considered and our design is appropriately thoughtful.
Forums are our opportunity to explore and share ideas, solve problems, provide inspiration and offer original thought. Our best projects are a collaboration, and our design forums blend diverse work and lived experiences, sectors and typologies. This is our strength and where our best work occurs.
