History

Evolution Of The Company

Assaí has extensive experience with countries and cultures in the Asia-Pacific, as well as corporate organisations in Australia. Since 1984, we have designed and implemented more than 200 projects in Australia, Cambodia, East Timor, India, Indonesia, Laos, New Caledonia, Papua New Guinea (PNG), Samoa, the Solomon Islands, Tonga, Vanuatu, and Vietnam.

Formerly Pacific Architecture, Assaí was originally an architecture and contracts management company and specialised in providing culturally appropriate buildings and infrastructure. Over the past 25 years, we have evolved to a professional services firm that provides design, project management, capacity building and human resource solutions across five practice areas:

Resources Sector;
International Development;
Indigenous Australia;
Strategic Workplaces; and
Knowledge Management

Assaí works with clients and stakeholders to maximise local resources and capabilities. We effectively consult local institutions, associations, suppliers, professionals and end-users from the planning stage to project implementation.

Our Name: Assai

While searching for a new name we stumbled upon the image of an unfolding palm leaf. This image signified the development of order from chaos, an organic approach to design principles and helping people's ideas unfold in a sustainable yet aesthetic way.

We researched various words and meanings to articulate our idea - and chose the name Assaí.

Our name has several meanings relevant to our work:

The Assai palm, native to South America, is primarily cultivated for its heart (the 'palmetto'). This edible delicacy is said to be highly sought after. At Assaí, having heart is crucial to what we do. We seek to work with heart as well as mind and hand.

In Italian, 'assai' means 'enough' or 'sufficient'. When designing projects and working with clients, Assai keeps in mind the essence of both economy and sustainability.

The word 'assai' shares the same root as 'asset' - we like this connection becasue we have chosen as the focus of our work the physical assets of culture - buildings, landscape, infrastructure, and technologies.