Resilient Buildings – Designing for Changing Conditions

In recent summers, many Australians have experienced days when the heat feels relentless. Power grids strain, air-conditioning struggles to keep up, and outages — once rare — are no longer unthinkable. During these moments, the difference between a building that merely meets efficiency targets and one that remains genuinely habitable becomes clear.

Much of the way we assess buildings today assumes that services will always be available: electricity will flow, water will arrive at the tap, and mechanical systems will perform as designed. When everything works, this assumption holds. When it doesn’t, buildings are exposed for what they really are — either shelters that protect people from changing conditions, or thin skins that depend entirely on technology to function.

Resilience is not the same as efficiency. An efficient building may use less energy under normal conditions, yet still become uncomfortable or unsafe during prolonged heat, service disruptions, or extreme weather. A resilient building, by contrast, is designed to cope when conditions shift. It moderates temperature, protects occupants, and buys time — even when systems falter.

This distinction matters as climate conditions continue to change. Rising temperatures, more frequent heatwaves, intense rainfall, droughts and fire risk place growing pressure on infrastructure and services. In these circumstances, buildings become the last line of defence. If they cannot maintain basic comfort and safety without constant mechanical intervention, the risk is transferred directly to occupants.

In Australia, many building standards still reflect historical assumptions about climate and service reliability. Domestic construction, in particular, remains heavily reliant on mechanical heating and cooling to achieve comfort, rather than requiring buildings to moderate conditions through design. Updating the National Construction Code to reflect changing conditions is complex and slow — but the climate is not waiting.

Resilient buildings rely first on passive qualities: shading, insulation, thermal mass, ventilation and thoughtful layout. These features do not switch off during a blackout. They do not depend on fuel supply or network stability. They continue to work quietly, reducing harm when conditions are at their most demanding.

This does not mean rejecting technology. Mechanical systems, renewable energy, storage and smart controls all have an important role to play. But resilience demands that buildings are not wholly dependent on them. Systems should support good design — not compensate for its absence.

Most importantly, resilience is not only about new buildings. The vast majority of homes people will live in over the coming decades already exist. Improving their ability to cope with heat, service disruption and extreme weather is one of the most practical challenges we face.

This series will explore what resilience really means in the built environment — how buildings can remain habitable as conditions change, how design decisions influence survivability, and what can realistically be done to improve both new and existing homes. The goal is not perfection, but preparedness: buildings that protect people when assumptions no longer hold.

In the next post, I’ll look at passive survivability — how buildings can remain habitable during extreme heat and coincident power outages without relying entirely on mechanical systems.