HDR has named Mark Gazy its Civic Principal in a move that fortifies the firm’s commitment to delivering major city-shaping infrastructure and precincts that support community and innovation. Mark Gazy’s 25 years of transdisciplinary experience, which spans mixed-use, residential, commercial, education and urban design, will empower HDR’s design teams to deliver human-centred, wellnessdriven communities that enrich the places people call home.
What does Gazy bring to HDR in the role?
Gazy will work closely with HDR’s health, education, science and defence sectors to innovate across disciplines and constructively challenge architectural conventions. He will also build on HDR’s global expertise in mixed-use, civic buildings, urban design and transit architecture, and leverage his cross-sectoral experience to explore community-shaping projects, precinct developments and residential typologies like build-to-rent and social and affordable housing.
In his new role, Mark Gazy will also work with several government customers to help deliver justice and correctional health facilities that shift design outcomes from containment-focused to treatment-focused and intersect health, wellness, education and community.
With climate change, data proliferation and urbanisation transforming the delivery of design, he will champion HDR’s Regenerative Design Framework to support 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.
Additionally, Gazy will in turn closely collaborate with the organisation’s data driven design team to create comprehensive virtual replicas of building structures that can measure the ecological, social, cultural and financial resilience of an urban environment more holistically.
With previous design roles at BVN, Tzannes, SJB and AJC, Gazy joins recently promoted Education, Science and Community Principal Graeme Spencer, Design Principal Simon Fleet, Melbourne Studio Leader Karen Curtis, and Associate Managing Principal Rob Wright.
What does the appointment mean for HDR?
“Following a period of significant company growth, the appointment of Mark Gazy will enable us to further diversify and integrate our markets and services so we can elevate the communities we serve and codesign resilient, equitable and regenerative places and precincts that support and define our future,” said Cate Cowlishaw, Regional Managing Principal at HDR.
“Whether designing neighbourhoods to solve loneliness, rebuilding net zero communities on higher ground to safeguard from flooding or creating innovation precincts for scientists, researchers and educators to converge, by looking beyond traditional typologies we have the potential to solve the most complex societal, cultural and economic challenges,” said Gazy.
“The civic sector is unlocking new paradigms, and we have a rare opportunity to shape its future trajectory by responding to the client’s complex needs and variable market forces.”
“For example, could we solve our housing crisis, and supply and demand pressures, by integrating our social infrastructure and precincts with key worker accommodation and amenities? This could reinvigorate the market and create deeply integrated environments that enable social, economic and cultural systems of influence to thrive in their own right.”
Ranked No. 2 in the World Architecture Survey of Top 100 Global Architecture Practices, HDR has been delivering civic projects in Australia for almost 50 years. Key projects include town centres at Ed. Square, Shell Cove and Rouse Hill; the highly-awarded Wollongong Central; Westmead Health Precinct Redevelopment; University of Sydney and Health Infrastructure NSW’s Sydney Biomedical Accelerator; and Cherry Creek Youth Justice Centre.
