HATCH is short for Hatcher Pass in Alaska, a state park filled with mountains, the place where HATCH was created. The name speaks to the idea of pursuing a built world that embodies the raw beauty of untouched nature.
HATCH is unique in that it is boundless and decommodified of aesthetic; rather than providing clients with a signature style, HATCH is focused towards doing work that is tailored specifically to each individual design challenge and client. This philosophy is carried into the kinds of projects we take on being that we relish in accepting new types of work. We are currently working on: constructing product prototypes, branding, masterplans, institutional projects, art spaces, cultural structures, commercial buildings, retail stores, restaurants, interior design, art explorations, landscapes, research projects and a variety of residential buildings. HATCH is currently working on more than a dozen projects in four countries and is lead by design director Christopher Hatch McLean.
CHRISTOPHER HATCH MCLEAN . FOUNDER / DESIGN DIRECTOR
Christopher is a licensed architect in the states of California, New York and Florida with over 14 years of experience. Born and raised on a cattle farm in Wasilla, Alaska, he gained a deep respect for the natural environment and understanding of ecology. This led him to work as a carpenter in his later years, building numerous homes where he gained extensive first-hand knowledge of construction.
He studied at the University of Washington and subsequently earned a Bachelor of Architecture at the University of Oregon. While at Oregon, he became one of the leading students in sustainable design and research and won the only internship given to a University of Oregon student to work for Miller Hull, a prestigious architecture firm in Seattle. Training directly under Bob Hull, the Godfather of the Pacific Northwest Modernist movement, deeply impacted Christopher as he was part of the design team for numerous cutting edge sustainability focused projects in the U.S.
Upon graduating, he moved to Los Angeles where he worked for WHY Architecture on countless art related projects such as: the Harvard Art Museum, the MOCA in LA, and the Speed Art Museum. After WHY, he played a key role in the formulation of m_Royce Architecture and was the Design Director on over a dozen bespoke artisan constructed projects in Los Angeles.
These invaluable experiences led him to launch HATCH In 2017 in order to pursue the notion of a built world that embodies the raw beauty of untouched nature.
WHAT IS THE MOST IMPORTANT FACTOR BEHIND YOUR SUCCESS?
The success of HATCH is attributed to three key characteristics of our company structure: The first characteristic is our ‘extreme dedication to achieving great work’. We do whatever it takes to ensure that our clients are elated with the services we provide and we are not satisfied with our work until we feel directly impacted by what we have produced. This entails working long hours, weekends and holidays if necessary, yet we place heavy emphasis on continuing to find new ways to streamline our processes which results in even higher levels of service and better work/life balance for our team.
The second characteristic is our ‘deemphasis on providing specific products, services, and typologies’. At our core we are an architectural design firm, but we have created a system of design that can be tailored to any project, idea or client. This company structure has created a flywheel effect as each unique project we engage builds on our network of knowledge, which is in turn applied to the next project and so forth. We really love working with this methodology; not only does this make us better designers, it also takes us to new places we could have never imagined as we continue to work on more and more remarkable projects.
The third and most important characteristic is our ‘emphasis on sustainability’, which is ingrained in everything we do at HATCH. We are continuously challenging the idea of sustainability and analyzing what it means. To us sustainability goes far beyond energy efficiency and carbon neutrality. These goals are of course very important, yet we see sustainability as an all encompassing way of thinking about design. We believe that in order to be sustainable, a product should impact its users on a metaphysical level to make them happier, healthier and more inclined to provide positive change to their surroundings. For humanity to truly become sustainable we must create a tipping point of cultural change through design. For these reasons we find this topic very interesting and have been amazed with the impact it has had on our network of stakeholders.
