THE CONVERGENCE OF TECHNOLOGY AND BIOMIMETIC APPROACHES IN ARCHITECTURE

Abstract

Biomimetics is an emergent design approach that studies models and concepts found in nature and use their principles to develop new technologies. It is a design principle that mimics nature's time-tested patterns and strategies and seeks sustainable solutions to human problems. From primitive mud housing to sophisticated self-cleansing surfaces, the dialogue involved between nature and architecture represent an increasingly large convergence of ideas, technologies and physical realizations.

Biomimetics in architecture is not new to us- there are many examples being applied in our everyday lives. However, with the power of modern science and technology, the level of inspiration and potential it holds is tremendous. The meaning of biomimetics has changed with the onset of new technologies available to the modern-day biologists and technologists. In non-architectural disciplines such as military sciences, biomedical and engineering, biomimetic research has led to the development of material composites, integrated sensorics, pneumatic actuators, shock-absorbing materials, smart synthetics and development of biotic materials from renewable starch origins. Incredible new areas of research are making the seemingly impossible seem right around the corner. Structures with the strength and flexibility of long grass, cables with the strength and elasticity of spiders’ silk are no longer science fiction. The limitless inventiveness and sophistication of the natural world can inspire a new generation of innovative applications in architectural design.

Architecture on a fundamental level is already a form of biomimicry. Shelters and environmental control are products of coexistence with nature. The habitats and the performance of the organisms themselves offer clues to an architect to how their strategies and mechanisms can be applied. An organism, such as a cactus in a desert, has such an effective adaptive capacity for survival, through evolutionary pressure it would put current construction techniques and building standards to shame.

As contemporary architectural requirements become more complex, traditional building typologies are being questioned. Biomimetic research in high technology sectors becomes increasingly intertwined to architecture. As the world responds to an increasing need for sustainability, there has been no time that is more critical to change existing paradigms. As architecture is increasingly enabled by sophisticated design processes to determine optimal environmental and building conditions, the dissertation explores biomimetic approaches with new technologies which may change the nature of architecture.