•A new journal of Bioinspiration and Biomimetics has started publication in 2007

•Biology architecture. biomorphic architecture

•Architecture Inspired by Nature.
•Jim Gordon‘s book The New Science of Strong Materials (Centre for Biomimetics 2007).
Research in the centre has concentrated on the properties of organic materials such as bone,
collagen, chitin (from which the carapaces of insects are made), cellulose, and the silk of spiders‘
webs.
•The Genr8 tool for designing ‗interesting‘ surfaces resembling natural forms has been
developed by Una-May O‘Reilly, Martin Hemberg and Achim Menges of the Emergent Design
Group at MIT and the Emergent Design and Technologies Group at the Architectural Association
in London
Architecture Inspired by Nature.
HOW CAN A BUILDING GROW ITS OWN SKIN?
“The best way to predict the future is to design it.” Buckminster Fuller
 Bio mimicry : Nature in Design and Architecture
Bios: life
Mimesis: imitation
• imitation of nature’s functions and systems.
•Biomimicry is a science that studies nature’s models and then emulates these forms, processes,
systems, and strategies to solve key human problems like energy conservation and recycling.
• we understand how to integrate living and breathing organisms into a design process.
•Biomimicry does not just look at the shape and form of nature, but asks a much bigger
question: what function does that form provide?
 Your project should include:
•The use of natural light to save energy.
•Energy efficient ways to heat the structure.
•sustainable structure and design.
 Steps:
•Choose your inspiration from a mammal, bird, or insect, thinking about what the outcome will
be.
• Look at how your inspiration is constructed, analyzing the shapes and forms and how they
function.
•Study the elements and patterns that make up the inspired form and apply those ideas to the
sketches
•Develop a series of ten thumbnail sketches to visualize the shapes that will make up your final
design. This is not the final building. Think about the pieces that make up your creature and
sketch them individually.
• Look at those shapes, do five thumbnail sketches of what your structure (building ) might look
like.
•Choose the best sketch, and Break down your forms into the basic shapes required to build it,
and develop your floor plans and elevation.
•Now add secondary elements like surrounding detail, a pavement, perhaps a few trees.
BIOMIMICRY AS A TOOL FOR SUSTAINABLE
ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN

TOWARDS MORPHOGENETIC ARCHITECTURE

 The principle of Biomimetics strives to learn how nature has learned and to not necessarily
imitate but distil from nature the qualities and characteristics of natural form and systems
that may be applicable to our interpretation of architecture.

Why choose a biological or nature theme?

•The ideas of ‗wholeness‘, ‗coherence‘, ‗correlation‘ and ‗integration‘, used to express the
organised relationship between the parts of the biological organism, can be applied to describe
similar qualities in the well-designed artefact. The adaptation of the organism to its
environment, its fitness, can be compared to the harmonious relation of a building to its
surroundings, and, more abstractly, to the appropriateness of any designed object for the
various purposes for which it is intended.

•A second point is that as a matter of historical fact, it has been biology out of all the sciences to
which architectural and design theorists have most frequently turned. Indeed it is surprising, in
view of the ubiquity of biological references and ideas in the writings of the architectural
theorists of the last hundred years, that no work of book length has so far been devoted to the
history and theory of biological analogy. The history is certainly a fragmented one, leading into
many remote corners and backwaters of the architectural literature. Nevertheless analogy with
biology is a constant and recurring theme.
(Steadman P. 2008)
 Why choose a biological or nature theme?
Rationale and justification:

Out of box.
NATURE similar qualities in the well-designed
Depict nature.
Best e.g. of inspiration. Nature’s importance.
Solution for human’s problems. Awareness to common people
Responding to site

Importance or benefits:

•explore various aspects of modeling

•buildings closer to environments/nature
•ecosystems (efficient use of natural resources).
•eco-efficient, so integrating aspects of nature into the design is essential.
•aesthetic expression
•highly efficient, more durable and require less energy and construction materials
•sustainable design solutions by emulating nature’s time-tested strategies and patterns
 Importance or benefits.:
•you explore various aspects of modeling and best practices for creating 3D architectural
models.
• architects can design buildings for environments that are closer to nature rather than invasive.
•Contemporary architects are turning to ecosystems and microclimates for clues and solutions
regarding the efficient use of natural resources.
•How they can adapt the design of their buildings to function as effectively?
•Through Biomimicry, architects are able to observe how sustainability works in nature, and
incorporate solutions into structures in the built environment. It is important that buildings be
eco-efficient, so integrating aspects of nature into the design is essential.
•as a source of inspiration for aesthetic expression
•buildings that are highly efficient, more durable and require less energy and construction
materials
•Biomimicry seeks to extract sustainable design solutions by emulating nature’s time-tested
strategies and patterns
 Criticism

• costs of buildings/ different in dimension. resources (except those that derive the
design process itself).

• the approach introduced here relies heavily on very specific knowledge, skills and tools

•software development in computational design

 RESEARCH QUESTIONS

•HOW COULD BIOMIMETIC DESIGN BENEFIT FROM NEW DESIGN ?

•WHAT IS THE POTENTIAL OF SUCH A DESIGN APPROACH?
•HOW COULD BIOLOGICAL PRINCIPLES BE APPLIED IN ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN ?
•EXPLORING THE IMPORTANCE OF NATURAL FORMS , WHICH ARTIFICIALLY MADE BY
HUMAN BEINGS.
•WHAT ARE THE IMPORTANCE AND BENEFITS OF NATURAL FORMS?
•WHY DOES ONE FEEL TO INCORPORATE NATURAL FORMS WITH OTHER FORMS?
•WHAT IS AESTHETIC FORM IN ARCHITECTURE?
•WHY ARCHITECTS AND DEVELOPERS ARE FOCUSING THEIR DESIGNS ON NATURAL
FORMS, IN FOREIGN COUNTRY.
BUT NOT PRESENT IN OUR COUNTRY IN THAT SCALE.
HOW THEY CAN ADAPT THE DESIGN OF THEIR BUILDINGS TO FUNCTION AS
EFFECTIVELY?
 Research Aim & Objectives
RESEARCH AIM:
THE MAIN OBJECTIVE OF THESIS IS TO RESEARCH THE POSSIBILITY OF EXPLORING THE
NATURE BASED FORM THAT IS MORE SUSTAINABLE ARCHITECTURE DESIGN AND MORE
SUITABLE WITH THE CONTEXT.

OBJECTIVES:
•EXPLORE THE POTENTIAL OF NATURE / BIOMIMICRY IN ARCHITECTURE.
•STUDY MODELING DESIGN, BY ESTABLISHING A THEORETICAL AND
METHODOLOGICAL FRAMEWORK FOR CASE-STUDIES.
•EXPLORE THE POSSIBILITY OF IMPLEMENTING AND CORRELATING SELECTED
BIOLOGICAL PRINCIPLES WITH MORPHOGENETIC DESIGN.
•ANALYSE AND EVALUATE CASE STUDIES REPRESENTING SUCH A POSSIBILITY.
 introduction:

‘From my designer’s perspective, I ask: Why can’t I design a building like a tree?
A building that makes oxygen, fixes nitrogen, sequesters carbon, distils water,
builds soil, accrues solar energy as fuel, makes complex sugars and food,
creates microclimates, changes colours with the seasons and self replicates.
This is using nature as a model and a mentor, not as an inconvenience.
It’s a delightful prospect…’
(McDonough and Braungart, 1998)
 historical Origins
•ancient Greece have looked to natural organisms as offering perfect models of that harmonious
balance and proportion between the parts of a design which is synonymous with the classical
ideal of beauty.
•Architects and designers have looked to biology for inspiration since the beginnings of the
science in the early nineteenth century. They have sought not just to imitate the forms of plants
and animals, but to find methods in design analogous to the processes of growth and evolution
in nature. Biological ideas are prominent in the writings of many modern architects, of whom Le
Corbusier and Frank Lloyd Wright are just the most famous. Le Corbusier declared biology to be
“the great new word in architecture and planning”.
•Modern research in ‘biomimetics‘ (engineering analysis of organisms and their behaviour with a
view to applying the same principles in design) gives a new name and new rigour to what went
under the banner of ‘biotechnique‘ or ‘biotechnics‘ in the 1920s and 1930s.
for example The term biomimicry appeared as early as 1982 and was popularized by scientist
and author Janine Benyus in her 1997 book Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature.
•new theory in architecture and design, looking not just to understand and imitate natural
forms, but seeking insights at deeper levels into biological processes, from which designers
might derive models and methods. This activity has gathered pace over the past two decades.
One reason has been the growing environmental crisis, the rise of green and sustainable design,
and a belief that an architecture in closer harmony with nature needs to take lessons from
organic forms and systems.
 ANY FORM (RESULT OF FOLLOWING PROCESS)

DEPEND ON THE LAWS OF

SHAPE DEPENDS HUMAN DEMANDS
PHYSICS AND CHEMISTRY
ENVIRONMENT and ENVIRONMENT
OF NATURE & ENVIR..
i.E ROCKS
i.e ICE CRYSTAL

NATURE

LIFE WATER GEOLOGY ATMOSPHERE MATTER AND ENERGY

 NATURE similar qualities in the well-designed

solution for human’s problems. Best e.g. of inspiration

Rationale Nature’s importance.

Nature’s importance.
and
justification

Out of box Responding to site

Awareness to common people

 IMPORTANCE OR BENEFITS:

EXPLORE VARIOUS ASPECTS OF MODELING

BUILDINGS CLOSER TO ENVIRONMENTS/NATURE
ECOSYSTEMS (EFFICIENT USE OF NATURAL RESOURCES).
ECO-EFFICIENT, SO INTEGRATING ASPECTS OF NATURE INTO THE DESIGN IS ESSENTIAL.
AESTHETIC EXPRESSION
HIGHLY EFFICIENT, MORE DURABLE AND REQUIRE LESS ENERGY AND
CONSTRUCTION MATERIALS
SUSTAINABLE DESIGN SOLUTIONS BY EMULATING NATURE’S TIME-TESTED
STRATEGIES AND PATTERNS
 RESEARCH AIM:

POSSIBILITY OF EXPLORING THE NATURE BASED FORM THAT IS MORE

SUSTAINABLE & MORE SUITABLE WITH THE CONTEXT

OBJECTIVES :

EXPLORE THE POTENTIAL OF NATURE-MIMICRY IN ARCHITECTURE.

STUDY MODELING DESIGN, BY ESTABLISHING A THEORETICAL AND
METHODOLOGICAL FRAMEWORK FOR CASE-STUDIES.
EXPLORE THE POSSIBILITY OF IMPLEMENTING AND CORRELATING SELECTED
BIOLOGICAL PRINCIPLES WITH MORPHOGENETIC DESIGN.
ANALYSE AND EVALUATE CASE STUDIES REPRESENTING SUCH A POSSIBILITY.
 RESEARCH QUESTIONS

WHAT IS THE POTENTIAL OF SUCH A DESIGN APPROACH?

HOW COULD BIOLOGICAL PRINCIPLES BE APPLIED IN ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN ?
EXPLORING THE IMPORTANCE OF NATURAL FORMS , WHICH ARTIFICIALLY MADE B
HUMAN BEINGS.
WHAT ARE THE IMPORTANCE AND BENEFITS OF NATURAL FORMS?
WHY DOES ONE FEEL TO INCORPORATE NATURAL FORMS WITH OTHER FORMS?
WHAT IS AESTHETIC FORM IN ARCHITECTURE?
WHY ARCHITECTS AND DEVELOPERS ARE FOCUSING THEIR DESIGNS ON NATURAL
FORMS, IN FOREIGN COUNTRY.
BUT NOT PRESENT IN OUR COUNTRY IN THAT SCALE.
HOW THEY CAN ADAPT THE DESIGN OF THEIR BUILDINGS TO FUNCTION AS
EFFECTIVELY?
 DESIGN APPROACHES:

1- DESIGN LOOKING TO BIOLOGY 1- DESIGN LOOKING TO BIOLOGY

(Pedersen Zari, M. 2007),

PROBLEM-BASED APPROACH SOLUTION-BASED APPROACH

(Jean Knippers 2009)
 DESIGN APPROACHES:
•Approaches to biomimicry as a design process typically fall into two categories:

1- Design looking to biology((Pedersen Zari, M. 2007),

•Problem-Based Approach
•Top-down Approach‖ (Jean Knippers 2009)
•PROBLEM-DRIVEN BIOLOGICALLY INSPIRED
DESIGN‖ (MICHAEL HELMS, SWAROOP S. VATTAM AND
ASHOK K. GOEL, 2009)

Bionic Car /boxfish (ostracion meleagris),

DaimlerCrysler bionic car inspired by the box fish and tree growth patterns.
•Step 1: problem definition
•Step 2: reframe the problem
•Step 3: biological solution search
•Step 4: define the biological solution
•Step 5: principle extraction
•Step 6: principle application
(Michael Helms, Swaroop S. Vattam and Ashok
K. Goel, 2009)

Design Spiral by the Biomimicry Institute

2- Biology influencing design

•Solution-Based Approach
•Bottom-Up Approach.
•Solution-Driven Biologically Inspired Design‖.
 •Step 1: biological solution identification
Here, designers start with a particular biological solution in mind.
•Step 2: define the biological solution
•Step 3: principle extraction
•Step 4: reframe the solution
In this case, reframing forces designers to think in terms of how
humans might view the usefulness of the biological function being
achieved.
•Step 5: problem search
Whereas search in the biological domain includes search through
some finite space of documented biological solutions, problem
search may include defining entirely new problems. This is much
different than the solution search step in the problem-driven
process.
•Step 6: problem definition
•Step 7: principle application
•An advantage of this approach therefore is that biology may influence humans in ways that
might be outside a predetermined design problem, resulting in previously unthought-of
technologies or systems or even approaches to design solutions. The potential for true shifts in
the way humans design and what is focused on as a solution to a problem, exists with such an
approach to biomimetic design. (Vincent et al., 2005)
•A disadvantage from a design point of view with this approach is that biological research must
be conducted and then identified as relevant to a design context. Biologists and ecologists must
therefore be able to recognise the potential of their research in the creation of novel
 LEVELS OF NATURE INSPIRED ARCHITECTURE:

•form, process and ecosystem

•In studying an organism or ecosystem, form and process are aspects of an organism or
ecosystem that could be mimicked.
Levels mean..which aspect of ‘bio‘ has been ‘mimicked‘.
(Pedersen Zari, M. 2007)

•Form and behaviour are intricately linked. The form of an organism affects its behaviour in the
environment, and a particular behaviour will produce different result in different environments.
Behaviour is non linear and context specific.
(Hensel M., Menges A. and Weinstock M. 2004)
 LEVELS OF NATURE INSPIRED ARCHITECTURE:

LEVELS MEAN..WHICH ASPECT OF ‘BIO‘ HAS BEEN ‘MIMICKED‘.

(Pedersen Zari, M. 2007)
SPECIFIC ORGANISM (PART OF OR THE WHOLE ORGANISM)

HOW AN ORGANISM BEHAVES, OR RELATES TO A LARGER CONTEXT

ECOSYSTEMS AND THE COMMON PRINCIPLES THAT ALLOW THEM TO

SUCCESSFULLY FUNCTION.

what it looks like (form)

what it is made out of (material)
how it is made (construction)
how it works (process)
what it is able to do (function).
The organism level refers to a specific organism like a plant or animal and may involve mimicking
part of or the whole organism. The second level refers to mimicking behaviour, and may include
translating an aspect of how an organism behaves, or relates to a larger context. The third level
is the mimicking of whole ecosystems and the common principles that allow them to
successfully function.
what it looks like (form), what it is made out of (material), how it is made (construction), how it
works (process) or what it is able to do (function).
Waterloo International Terminal
The project objective was to convert the existing platform 20 at Waterloo International Terminal
for use by domestic rolling stock operated by South-West Trains. Additionally passenger access
was to be provided between the existing platform 19 and the newly converted platform 20.
2-MILWAUKEE ART MUSEUM:
Design Concept
The city of Milwaukee was looking for a “strong architectural statement in an exciting yet
functional building” that would “set an architectural standard for the next millennium”.
Calatrava’s response was to design “a glowing ‘lantern’ on the downtown lakefront, radiating
light in all directions” . He chose to execute this concept through a pavilion featuring a “vast,
glass-enclosed reception hall” with a “transparent, boat-like prow of unique design, facing the
lake” and a “huge, wing-like sunscreen” .
Building Layout
 STRUCTURAL FEATURES

A GLOWING 'LANTERN' ON THE DOWNTOWN LAKEFRONT, RADIATING LIGHT

IN ALL DIRECTIONS.”
•steel-and-glass
•oval-shaped ring beam
•A-frames, ranging in length from 98 feet to about 27 feet
•movable wings (natural light / artificial illumination)
BUILDING COMPONENTS AND SYSTEM
•The functional areas of the main building include the parking garage, the gallery space,
the pavilion (ring beam and A-frames) and the south terrace.
•Except for the A-frames, which are comprised of plate steel and the Burke Brise-Soleil
support, the structural material is reinforced concrete.
BURKE BRISE-SOLEIL

The biggest challenge in the design of the Burke B

was to understand the behavior with wind load on t

•Repetition in nature ...

•Nature often work in nature.
•Represent movement through form/space.
PEDESTRIAN BRIDGE

Gravity Loads