HDR’s Resilience Imperative, Human-Driven Approach & What Comes Next

The article "Mark Gazy on HDR’s resilience imperative, human-driven approach and what comes next" has been published in Architecture + Design. The story features commentary from Australian Civic Principal Mark Gazy on HDR's resilience imperative, his approach to human-centred design, and touches on the importance of reconnecting humans and nature so we can envision a regenerative future underpinned by community well-being. 

In the article, Mark outlines the four pillars of resilience — ecological, social, cultural and organisational — in the context of HDR's Regenerative Design Framework, which is supporting designers in moving beyond basic high-performance design goals towards net-positive impacts and metric-driven targets for carbon, water, nutrients, air, biodiversity, social and health categories. He believes that by focusing on the continuous renewal of our evolving socio-ecological systems, we have an opportunity to create more resilient neighbourhoods for years to come.

Mark references Washington state’s Hamilton Center as a best-in-class example of water-sensitive urban design that consider the interrelatedness between natural, built and human systems. On this project, HDR employed triple net-zero design — net-zero energy, net-zero water and net-zero carbon — within a circular economy framework to relocate a resilient town above the flood plain and mitigate flooding and biodiversity degradation.

Lastly, Mark goes on to identify the HDR-designed Dubbo Base Hospital Redevelopment and Western Cancer Centre in NSW as two benchmark hospitals in social and cultural resilience. The facilities were informed by Rural Resolve, an HDR research study which looked at reconfiguring town centres to integrate healthcare services, public green space, recreational facilities and amenities.