Research
Hames Sharley is a research-led design practice, recognised for excellence and innovation in shaping the built environment. With national design influence and an expanding global research footprint, we develop knowledge that aligns with industry needs and societal challenges.
We invite researchers, institutions, and organisations to partner with us in exploring critical challenges across urban development, sustainability, healthcare, aging populations, transportation, and more.
Whether you’re an academic seeking industry collaboration, a business with a complex challenge to solve, or an emerging researcher looking for mentorship and support, we welcome opportunities to work together.
Join us in pushing the boundaries of knowledge and creating research that enable communities, cities, and environments to flourish.
Get in touch to explore research opportunities with Hames Sharley.
Designing for dignity
A shared commitment to better palliative care environments
Palliative care environments are among the most emotionally and physically demanding spaces in healthcare. The design of the physical environment is often overlooked or treated as a secondary concern, but it can be a powerful contributor to all occupants.
From margins to medals
How ACSA is shaping Australia's sporting future
The Australian Centre for Sports Aerodynamics (ACSA) offers something rare: the opportunity to extract real-world performance gains from aerodynamic refinement and advanced modelling, and not just for cyclists. It’s time that sporting organisations, coaches, and athletes across a range of disciplines recognise that ACSA is not merely a wind tunnel, but a performance partner.
Modular Construction: Framing support for Australia’s growing industry
Looking at current attitudes to modular construction in Australia, Talia Uylaki has written a comprehensive research study informed by industry surveys with built environment professionals. She considers the challenges and perceived benefits of modular as well as the strategies to help build confidence in Australia’s modular construction industry.
How ICU environments affect recovery – and what we can do about it
Hospitals are meant to be places of healing, yet for many patients, the very environments designed to support their recovery can make rest difficult. Sleep is often interrupted, natural light and its intensity is limited during the day, and often at night lighting and noise levels are too high – all of which can slow recovery and prolong hospital stays.
The NEXus of research and design
As designers of the built environment, it is essential that we keep learning and developing our understanding of society’s evolving needs. National Exchange (NEX) is Hames Sharley’s fortnightly webinar series that provides our architects and designers with direct access to speakers at the forefront of architectural research and thought leadership, empowering them to integrate new ideas and techniques into their practice.
Sensory-based design for our ageing population
We all deserve to age in comfort, and to feel supported within an inclusive environment. But the built environment can be challenging to navigate for those who are sensitive to environmental stimuli, such as those living with neurogenerative diseases – though it needn’t be. In research led by Talia Uylaki, we explored how sensory-based design can lead to better outcomes for people living with dementia.
Reducing aggression in emergency department waiting rooms
We know that spaces can empower or disempower people. The tipping point is often how that space is designed.
Hames Sharley’s Research team recently discovered a potential link between aggressive behaviour in Emergency Departments and spatial design, paving the way for a re-think of how these spaces are designed for clinicians, patients, visitors and the broader community.
The future of emergency departments in Australia
By the time the design and construction of a new hospital is completed in Australia, it may already be outdated due to a lack of flexibility and the rapid development of technologies and services. Design and construction limitations were highlighted during the pandemic, with a pronounced shift from face-to-face services to remote telehealth services. While telehealth services continue to grow as important tools for providing care to our growing population, who knows what’s coming next?
A novel vertical approach to land use zoning, reserves, and infrastructure
As the population of Perth CBD grows, and more needs are expected to be accommodated, the city is pressured to densify, embrace mixed-use, and consider alternative means by which to plan and design for CBD land use and infrastructure zoning.
Designing resilience against climate change
Without immediate action, people, the planet, and infrastructure will suffer the consequences of dying biodiversity, loss of habitat, rising global temperatures, rising sea levels, food shortages, catastrophic natural disasters (droughts, floods, bushfires, etc.), and we will see a new phenomenon in our modern world: climate refugees. Architecture and design firms can play a critical role in adapting our communities to climate change.
Reactivating city laneways with virtual infrastructure
The city laneway is often viewed as narrow, dark, lined with rubbish bins and vehicles parked on the verge, tagged with graffiti, and used only for transitionary foot traffic. They are characterised as potentially unsafe areas, especially at night and if the laneway has inefficient lighting.
There is potential in reactivating existing laneway infrastructure to create vibrant, active spaces that promote increased foot traffic to the buildings that back or open onto the laneway, as well as facilities and services on the streets at either end of the laneway.
The significance of place
The Canberra Civic and Culture District
To cultivate a ‘sense of place’, communities must plan for physical environments that are uplifting and memorable, and that generate a unique sense of belonging. A community also fosters a ‘sense of place’ by recognising and valuing its natural surroundings, views, landmarks, and traditions.
Indoor air quality of adaptive reuse spaces
A review of Hames Sharley’s new studio space in Perth, Western Australia
Nowadays most of our time is spent indoors, so it’s vital to check the quality of our indoor environments. The importance of proper ventilation in support of indoor air quality (IAQ), for example, cannot be overstated in assessing the spaces we inhabit. Existing research suggests that poor ventilation may lead to increased indoor CO₂ levels that can cause cognitive function scores to drop significantly, and may be a key cause of tiredness, concentration problems, and even ill-health.
This research focused on the real-time monitoring of CO₂ levels in Hames Sharley’s new studio in Perth, Western Australia. Hames Sharley is committed to providing a quality workplace that optimises comfort, wellbeing, and productivity. This study provided the multidisciplinary design studio with the opportunity to assess its building’s performance and its responsiveness to the dynamics of a hybrid agile workplace setting through its real-time HVAC system sensor data.
Could an office move boost employee health and wellbeing?
The surprising benefits of relocation.
In an effort to better understand commuter behaviour, Hames Sharley recently assessed its own employees’ commuter behaviours in response to the relocation of its new Perth studio. The research made a surprising conclusion – that a simple office relocation and change in mode of working has the potential to increase employee activity levels, ultimately improving health and wellbeing in the workplace.
Defining regenerative design
The foundation to systematic understanding, adoption and practice
The world is currently on the brink of irreversible damage due to climate change. At the 2019 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), it was noted that many vulnerable communities had already started to experience food insecurity and ecosystem crises, with the projected rise in global temperatures set to cause such significant environmental damage that it would displace an estimated 200 million global citizens by 2050. That’s less than thirty years away.