Nature Design Guide

15 October 2025

By OCULUS

A horizontal cover with a green and blue landscape image reading "Nature Design Guide"

The Nature Design Guide is a practical, industry-led resource created to help shape a Country-centred approach to nature-based design in the Australian built environment.

Collaboratively developed, the guide offers actionable nature-based solutions to help project teams, clients and partners embed nature outcomes and benefits at the heart of design on single building and precinct scale projects.

The guide provides guidance on key Country and nature concepts, processes, a decision-making tool, and practical steps to help project teams embed Country and nature-positive outcomes into the design process. Featuring practical advice, the guide equips professionals designing new developments to do more than target the minimisation of harm, but instead to actively protect, regenerate, restore, and respect the cultural landscapes and natural world that sustains us all.

Recognising the real-world challenges of delivery, the guide also offers case study examples – including The Oval at Subi East, Melbourne Quarter Sky Park, Caddies Creek Precinct, Rouse Hill Regional Centre, and TarraWarra Museum of Art – demonstrating that positive change is not only possible, but achievable.

Download your free copy of the Nature Design Guide now:

At OCULUS, the Nature Design Guide will support our Country Vision Statement – a practice design approach to putting Country first created in response to Aunty Kerry’s invitation to designers at the 2022 Festival of Landscape Architecture to develop a 500-year outlook.

Nature Design Guide Collaboration Group:

Nature & Climate

Lendlease

OCULUS

Harrington & Low Consulting

Living Futures Institute Australia

Living Seawalls

Francisii Ecology

Hollow Log Homes

Fytogreen

Curtin University

Mott MacDonald

Arcadis

Global GreenTag International

AECOM

Mansfield Advisory

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