Biomimetic architecture
[2] The core idea of the biomimetic philosophy is that nature's inhabitants including animals, plants, and microbes have the most experience in solving problems and have already found the most appropriate ways to last on planet Earth.
In parallel, recent advancements in fabrication techniques, computational imaging, and simulation tools have opened up new possibilities to mimic nature across different architectural scales.
Biomorphism, or the incorporation of natural existing elements as inspiration in design, originated possibly with the beginning of man-made environments and remains present today.
The Sagrada Família church by Antoni Gaudi begun in 1882 is a well-known example of using nature's functional forms to answer a structural problem.
Metabolist architecture, a movement present in Japan post-WWII, stressed the idea of endless change in the biological world.
Kisho Kurokawa's Helix City is modeled after DNA, but uses it as a structural metaphor rather than for its underlying qualities of its purpose of genetic coding.
A historic example of biomorphic architecture dates back to Egyptian, Greek and Roman cultures, using tree and plant forms in the ornamentation of structural columns.
The cooperation focuses on the improvement or further development of an existing product.Mimicking nature requires understanding the differences between biological and technical systems.
In response to prior architectural movements biomimetic architecture strives to move towards radical increases in resource efficiency, work in a closed loop model rather than linear (work in a closed cycle that does not need a constant intake of resources to function), and rely on solar energy instead of fossil fuels.
Ecosystem principles follow that ecosystems (1) are dependent on contemporary sunlight; (2) optimize the system rather than its components; (3) are attuned to and dependent on local conditions; (4) are diverse in components, relationships and information; (5) create conditions favorable to sustained life; and (6) adapt and evolve at different levels and at different rates.
The subsequent stage is abstract, during which critical characteristics and mechanisms are investigated and biological tactics are converted into design strategies.
This sponge sits in an underwater environment with strong water currents and its lattice-like exoskeleton and round shape help disperse those stresses on the organism.
[20] The Eden Project (2001) in Cornwall, England is a series of artificial biomes with domes modeled after soap bubbles and pollen grains.
The resulting geodesic hexagonal bubbles inflated with air were constructed of Ethylene Tetrafluoroethylene (ETFE), a material that is both light and strong.
The Eastgate Centre designed by architect Mick Pearce in conjunction with engineers at Arup Associates is a large office and shopping complex in Harare, Zimbabwe.
The building has no air-conditioning or heating but regulates its temperature with a passive cooling system inspired by the self-cooling mounds of African termites.
Sun shades on the windows open and close in response to heat, just as the cactus undergoes transpiration at night rather than during the day to retain water.
[23] The project reaches out to the ecosystem level in its adjoining botanical dome whose wastewater management system follows processes that conserve water and has minimum waste outputs.
Incorporating living organisms into the breakdown stage of the wastewater minimizes the amount of external energy resources needed to fulfill this task.
Building on the ecosystem level involves mimicking of how the environments many components work together and tends to be on the urban scale or a larger project with multiple elements rather than a solitary structure.
The Cardboard to Caviar Project founded by Graham Wiles in Wakefield, UK is a cyclical closed-loop system using waste as a nutrient.
[21] The Sahara Forest Project designed by the firm Exploration Architecture is a greenhouse that aims to rely on solar energy alone to operate as a zero waste system.
[21] It draws upon the beetle's ability to self-regulate its body temperature by accumulating heat by day and to collect water droplets that form on its wings.
City rooftops mimic native the banyan fig leaf looking to its drip-tip system that allows water to run off while simultaneously cleaning its surface.
Joe Kaplinsky further argues that in basing itself on nature's design, biomimicry risks presuming the superiority of nature-given solutions over the manmade.
