Biomimicry - Sustainable Design - Environmental Design

Exploring contemporary design values, issues and ethics was the purpose of a new module delivered to design students at DJCAD, University of Dundee, Scotland. Using Biophilia, Biomimicry and Resilience as key drivers for design thinking, was crucial in establishing a framework to explore the potential of such tools to embrace natural systems thinking and inspire conceptual opportunities. This required a deepening of 'self realization' (Naess, A 2008) within each student and a shedding of any preconceived ideas about potential design outcomes. David Orr suggests that it requires us to 'come home' (Orr, A 2004). This paper is a reflection of these key drivers, using a synergistic methodology, brought together through a symbiotic view of participation through and with nature and design. To further develop the aims of the module, we invited a world-­-renowned biologist to contribute to the module where he delivered a biological perspective to complement the design process. The impact of this experience for the student, and for design, will be evaluated and discussed within this paper.

Learning from nature may be the most important step towards improving cities in the context of environmental and climate issues. However, many of the current approaches to make cities greener or more sustainable are still linear and insufficient to deal with these growing challenges. In this scenario, the adoption of regenerative and circular lenses for the built environment may foster a more holistic development based on what is good rather than what is less bad. In this article, we propose that bioconnectivity or bioconnections-a nature-focused approach based on biophilic design, biomimetics, and ecosystem services-may be an important enabler for the regeneration of the ecological and social boundaries of the planetary boundaries and doughnut economics models. We examine the literature to identify in what ways bioconnections could facilitate circular and regenerative processes for the local scale of the built environment domain. We complement the discussion with some real-world examples from selected urban communities or interventions in existing urban areas around the globe that claim a green approach. In the end, we propose a framework of relevant bioconnections for the built environment that could facilitate addressing ecological and social boundaries at the local urban scale and facilitate processes of regenerative transitions towards thriving communities. Keywords circular economy; circularity; nature-based solutions; regenerative design and development; urban bioeconomy; urban green infrastructure; urban sustainability Issue This article is part of the issue "Towards Green(er) Cities: Contextualizing Green Benefits for Urban Spaces and Contemporary Societies" edited by Juaneé Cilliers (University of Technology Sydney, Australia).

Es un hecho que el diseño ha interactuado directamente con la economía, la sociedad y los ecosistemas a través de los sistemas diseñados; prueba de ello son sus efectos.
Por una parte, el diseño ha contribuido al bienestar y desarrollo humanos mediante la transformación continua del entorno, de las ideas y de las cosas. Por otra parte, los sistemas que hemos diseñado también llevan décadas revelando que las decisiones tomadas por los diseñadores tienen sus efectos negativos ya que han contribuido en la generación y expansión de patrones de pensamiento y comportamiento insostenibles, cuyas consecuencias ponen en riesgo el desarrollo y bienestar humanos.
Si bien es cierto que las causas y los efectos son múltiples y diversos, que ocurren en diferentes tiempos y espacios, y que es posible que no sean evidentes o tangibles; no cabe duda que los diseñadores influimos e interactuamos con los sistemas ecológicos, sociales y económicos, que somos responsables de las decisiones que tomamos y por lo tanto de sus consecuencias. Podemos inferir que los efectos negativos de nuestras decisiones de diseño devienen, entre otras cosas, de un problema de fragmentación y organización del conocimiento, de la disociación del diseño, de la visión reduccionista en la que operamos al ignorar o desterrar aspectos, componentes o conexiones de la realidad por considerarlos consciente o inconscientemente no significativos. No obstante, está también en la propia naturaleza proyectual, estratégica, transversal y transformadora del diseño y en la capacidad del diseñador, como proyectista, agente de cambio y socializador de principios y valores, la posibilidad de reconfigurar el sistema, de restablecer las conexiones que permitan que el diseño contribuya positivamente a su razón de ser: La sostenibilidad del bienestar y desarrollo humanos. Para ello, es necesario que los diseñadores pensemos en sistemas, asumamos la complejidad, ampliemos la perspectiva, conozcamos y comprendamos cómo es que todo y todos estamos interconectados, con qué elementos, factores y sistemas interactúan el diseño y los sistemas diseñados, dónde y cómo se llevan a cabo esas interacciones, qué efectos han tenido y tienen nuestras decisiones de diseño y los productos que hemos diseñado; todo ello con el propósito de generar estrategias y proyectar escenarios que nos permitan diseñar sistemas que a lo largo de su ciclo vital y en el transcurso de su dinámica beneficien a las personas, las sociedades y los ecosistemas de manera responsable, equitativa, integral y sostenible. Esta tesis, Diseño y sistemas, nos aproxima al diseño desde la perspectiva de sistemas con el propósito de comprender el diseño como fenómeno con respecto al todo al que sirve para expresar los múltiples aspectos complejamente interconectados que lo conforman. Amplía la perspectiva en todos los órdenes y niveles de la realidad, describe el diseño y los sistemas diseñados a través de la exploración de sus relaciones, sus interconexiones, sus interdependencias, su retroalimentación, su función, su dinámica y también de sus efectos; comprende la definición del diseño como estrategia, y asimismo, la generación del modelo del Metasistema, un modelo a partir del cual es posible visualizar, proyectar, simular y prototipar escenarios de desarrollo sostenible del diseño. Proyectar escenarios de desarrollo sostenible del diseño conlleva cambio a través del aprendizaje y, a la vez, aprendizaje a través del cambio; implica valorar continuamente si el sistema crea y mantiene las condiciones que favorecen la vida, el bienestar humano y el desarrollo sostenible. De esta manera, proyectar escenarios de desarrollo sostenible del diseño supone configurar –a través de nuestras decisiones– las condiciones propicias para la emergencia de patrones sostenibles.

Simplifying Biomimetic Tectonics from dragonfly wing to complex evolving tectonics. It is a keynote to the 17th Architectural week” Conference  in Amman.
The keynote tries to present 12-step methodology for practicing Biomimetic architecture to seek solutions, systems, process, patterns, and strategies (structural and functional) for sustainability in nature, not by replicating the natural forms, but by understanding the rules governing those forms.

The introduction of green plants in indoor spaces has raised a great amount of interest motivated by plants’ supposed capacity to improve the quality of indoor built environments. Subsequent studies have covered a broad range of topics, testing plants in indoor environments for their climate-mitigating effects, acoustic benefits, potential energy savings and the enhancement of the indoor microbial communities. Despite the diversity of focus in these studies, no major breakthroughs been made involving the use of plants in indoor environments after nearly thirty years
of research. To identify major inconsistencies and gaps in the research, this review, of an explorative nature, presents an analysis of plant-related parameters reported in 31 cases of experimental research involving the use of plants in indoor environments. The papers were identified by searching the online databases Google Scholar, ResearchGate, Scopus and MDPI and were selected based on their relevance to the topic and diversity of focus. Two classifications in table form provide an overview of the 38 plant-related parameters used in the reviewed research. The conclusions drawn from the analysis of the tables highlight a strongly anthropocentric frame of reference across the majority of the studies, which prioritize human and experimental convenience above plant physiology, and display an overall scarcity and inconsistency in the plant-related parameters reported.

Green computing " represents environmentally responsible way to reduce power and environmental e-waste. Green computing is the practice of using computing resources efficiently. The goals are to reduce the use of hazardous materials, maximize energy efficiency during the product's lifetime, and promote recyclability or biodegradability outdated products and factory waste. It is known that the demand for computing devices rises as the people seek faster way of doing things. The most important issue is the sustainability or sustainable development and it is the key challenge for the environmentalists today. Quite a number of methods have been suggested to ensure sustainability. One important issue is minimum use of papers. Papers are wastage of natural resources. Papers are produced from wood pulp which leads to deforestation. The production of paper releases many by-products which harms the environment. In the present paper the authors have made a systematic study on various issues while producing printed papers which are not good for the environment as well as for the future generations. The authors also propose the negative impacts of paper on the environment can be negated by using E-documentation. Keyword s— green computing, factory waste, sustainability, e-document, energy efficiency I. INTRODUCTION Paper formed from wood pulp or plant fiber, paper is chiefly used for written communication. Paper, whether produced in the modern factory or by the most careful, delicate hand methods, is made up of connected fibers. The fibers can come from a number of sources including cloth rags, cellulose fibers from plants, and, most notably, trees. The use of cloth in the process has always produced high-quality paper. Today, a large proportion of cotton and linen fibers in the mix create many excellent papers for special uses, from wedding invitation paper stock to special paper for pen and ink drawings. The method of making paper is essentially a simple one—mix up vegetable fibers, and cook them in hot water until the fibers are soft but not dissolved. The hot water also contains a base chemical such as lye, which softens the fibers as they are cooking. Then, pass a screen-like material through the mixture, let the water drip off and/or evaporate, and then squeeze or blot out additional water. A layer of paper is left behind. Essential to the process are the fibers, which are never totally destroyed, and, when mixed and softened, form an interlaced pattern within the paper itself. Modern papermaking methods, although significantly more complicated than the older ways, are developmental improvements rather than entirely new methods of making paper. Raw Materials Probably half of the fiber used for paper today comes from wood that has been purposely harvested. The remaining material comes from wood fiber from sawmills, recycled newspaper, some vegetable matter, and recycled cloth. Coniferous trees, such as spruce and fir, used to be preferred for papermaking because the cellulose fibers in the pulp of these species are longer, therefore making for stronger paper. These trees are called "softwood" by the paper industry. Deciduous trees (leafy trees such as poplar and elm) are called "hardwood." Because of increasing demand for paper, and improvements in pulp processing technology, almost any species of tree can now be harvested for paper.

The paper explores the phenomena of social isolation due to the changing modern work and life style models and looks for possible design solutions by investigating the insect world and translating this into design principles, from the micro to the macro scale. It empirically investigates the 'anthropological leap' that Homo Sapiens, along with his habitat, is technically making, evolving to “Homo Technologicus” (Longo, 2001) and researches the natural environment for designing his new “technological habitus”. The aim is to discover basic biologic principles applicable in designing both innovative human-centered devices (myPod) and intelligent collective systems (the campUS) where individuals can interact with themselves and their environment, as “Australian Aboriginals” used to do. Finally the project empirically engages with the challenges of designing “freeDOME”: a mobile and autonomous load‐bearing shell structure inspired by insects, especially coleoptera, exploiting their structure, the bending properties and the spectacular structural colors of their wings.

This book provides readers with a timely guide to the application of biomimetic principles in architecture and engineering design, and describes various aspects of motion in living systems. Geometric, mechanical and rhythmic parameters are listed and illustrated using examples from flora and fauna, and contextualized within an integrated mapping of biomechanical combinations that have proved their success in the course of evolution. For designers, the schemes identify those aspects that have a high probability of being efficiently combined, paving the way for new solutions and offering a method of evolutionary problem solving. The book guides readers through the field of nature-inspired design, offering an extraordinary resource for professional architects, engineers and designers, as well as for researchers and students. Throughout the book, natural evolution is approached as a powerful resource that can enrich architecture and design by providing innovative, optimal and sustainable solutions.

Today, human activities constitute the primary environmental impact on the planet. In this context, commitments to sustainability, or minimization of damage, prove insufficient. To develop regenerative, futuring capabilities, architectural design needs to extend beyond the form and function of things and engage with the management of complex systems. Such systems involve multiple types of dynamic phenomena—biotic and abiotic, technical and cultural—and can be understood as living. Engagement with such living systems implies manipulation of pervasive and unceasing change, irrespective of whether it is valued by design stakeholders or actively managed towards homeostatic or homeorhetic conditions. On one hand, such manipulation of continuity requires holistic and persistent design involvements that are beyond natural capabilities of human designers. On the other hand, practical, political, or creative implications of reliance on automated systems capable of tackling such tasks are as yet underexplored. In response to this challenge, this paper considers an experimental approach that utilized methods of critical making and speculative designing to explore potentials of autonomous architecture. Presented experiments combined knowledge of animal architecture with intelligent behaviors of robotic devices.

Original at: https://zqjournal.org/editions/zq31.html

Proposing that nature is pervasive and that metabolic architectures are embedded in nature, I situate texts and theory as responses to techniques/methods for operational and research procedures. This text is thus a companion to my ongoing Metabolic Architectures campaign for thinking about, theorizing, and designing digital-biomimetic structures dialectically related to biology, technology, intelligence, and environmental bioremediation. In that categorization, theory is integral to the tasks of defining and evolving generative metabolic architectures and urbanisms as equal to the projectʼs drawings and models.
I started by building analog branching systems with plant and tree limbs — sometimes skinning their sculptural forms with environmentally strong, handmade yucca paper (Fig 1).This was in the early 2000s. My intention was not to create structural efficiency, but to evolve expressive branching that fused, bonded, and distributed force to create tension/compression, treelike scaffoldings hosting performative surfaces. I drew those structures in Rhinoceros 3D (Rhino) thinking that once structural systems were rooted in digital space, plant algorithms, and living infrastructures, facade panels could be designed and prototyped as bioarchitectural case studies.
In return, early works started reconfiguring my thinking about triangulated (truss) systems as irregular, curving and branching units — what I called eTrees (Fig 2). This motivated the transformation of post-and-lintel, load-bearing construction into biomimetically inspired components, based on interwoven vines or intermingled tree branches. And, although far from living, the models took on properties of skeletal organisms with environmental resilience — modules intended to partner with and sequester intelligent organisms capable of autonomous, bioremedial functions. Those trusslike models can be seen as steps toward computational and STL-fabricated eTrees plotted as material and structural concepts.
Drawing, modeling, and scanning there after opened as pathways for generative architectures envisioned for machine fabrication and AI-regulated . . . (continued at https://zqjournal.org/editions/zq31.html)

O presente artigo visa discutir as metodologias de desenvolvimento de produtos que tem como base os processos de Biomimética, a partir da avaliação dos processos de criatividade humana. Inicialmente buscou-se contextualizar sobre a criatividade e seus mecanismos, abordando sobre as dimensões da criatividade e inteligência, e a sua relação com os pensamentos divergente e convergente. Posteriormente, são abordados aspectos ligados aos métodos de Design vinculados aos processos naturais, aqui estudados, a partir dos princípios da Biomimética. Este campo de conhecimento apresenta uma investigação sistemática das soluções orgânicas e estruturais aplicadas pela natureza aos seus elementos, visando colher dados para a solução de problemas técnicos de formas, estruturas ou objetos para o uso cotidiano humano. Autores do domínio da Psicologia, como Guilford (1977) e Cropley (2001), e da Biomimética, como Beynus (1997), foram estudados e suas teorias utilizadas como fundamentação para as reflexões que se seguiram sobre a análise de experiência real sobre a aplicação de princípios biomiméticos em um ambiente de ensino de Design no Brasil, da Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, no laboratório de BioDesign (UFPE). O método estudado foi o de Analogia, no qual os princípios naturais são interpretados, desenvolvidos e transformados em possíveis soluções que podem ser utilizadas no fomento de ideias para novos produtos. Foram verificados que essa abordagem tem associação dos parâmetros da estruturação do pensamento divergente e convergente. Essa estrutura de pensamento tende a potencializar as dimensões da criatividade. Como apontamento futuro, relacionar mecanismos da estruturação do pensamento criativo com os princípios da Biomimética tende a promover a geração de novos métodos que possam auxiliar o desenvolvimento e um maior aproveitamento da gama de informações que podem ser retirados de sistemas naturais complexos.

In this paper, we reflect on the concept of nature that is presupposed in biomimetic approaches to technology and innovation. Because current practices of biomimicry presuppose a technological model of nature, it is questionable whether its claim of being a more ecosystem friendly approach to technology and innovation is justified. In order to maintain the potentiality of biomimicry as ecological innovation, we explore an alternative to this technological model of nature. To this end, we reflect on the materiality of natural systems and explore a natural model of nature, which is found in the responsive conativity of matter. This natural model of nature enables us to conceptualize biomimicry as conative responsiveness to the conativity of the biosphere.
PLEASE SEND AN EMAIL TO VINCENT.BLOK@WUR.NL IF YOU WANT TO RECEIVE A PDF OF THE EDITED/FORMATTED VERSION

Pamphlet outlining the speculative building codes applying to Panarchistic Architecture's 'Pyro-resistor' architectural and urban design genus pyroarchetype variant for use when exploring how the architectural and urban resilience paradigm may work in policy and professional practice. Part of the wider suite of Panarchic Codex® materials available via www.panarchiccodex.com.

The rapid growth of the human population, as well as an increase in urbanism, have resulted in the existence of new cities quickly and not adequately studied to be compatible with nature, which led to severe damage to the environment at all levels. The objective of this research is to discuss solutions to reduce the ongoing problems of urban expansion using bio-imitation and reach a vision of a sustainable city by classifying the roles played by biomimetics and their reflections on the performance of the built environment. Indeed, nature was and still is the first teacher of man and the main inspiration. Nature is as much an inspiration to architects as it is to scientists; this paper illustrates the relationship between science and biomimicry in planning new sustainable cities. The research follows the comparative approach that analyzes and compares methodologies for the physical life concepts of some insect colonies like ant colonies and bee settlements in the living world that are similar in their lives to human life, how they are integrated into the framework of physical planning and engaged that with the principles of the sustainable built environment, by showing great ingenuity in the manner they build their dwellings in a way that considers the surrounding environmental and climatic factors such as good Ventilation, control of various temperature and humidity inside the shelter. Concerning that, the case study is a kind of exploration and attempt to reach design guidelines for detailed planning for the built environment in new sustainable cities.

In order to achieve greater stability and structural efficiency, engineers use
nature as an inspiration for their design. Considering the level of sustainability
in biological systems, they analyze their structural behavior, browse for
compatible analogies with technical systems, abstract the observed physical
and mechanical principles, and implement these principles into the final
product. This process defines the bionic design approach. The term “bionics”
refers to the scientific discipline that addresses the transfer of properties from
biology to technology. This thesis aims to study the theoretical fundamentals
of this concept, explain its methodologies, and demonstrate its applicability in
architecture. Through the assessment of bionically built shell structures, the
different steps of the design process are illustrated, and the elements of each
analogy are evaluated on both biological and technological ends. The chosen
examples in this thesis incorporate concrete, masonry, steel, and timber
structures. Multidisciplinary literature is reviewed to deliver a thorough
explanation for each design project. Based on this research, the structural
benefits that characterize certain biological systems can be transferred into
architectural design, and improve the load bearing capacity of shell structures
in particular, using the bionic approach.

In common with other Australian Aboriginal groups, the Gubbi Gubbi people (Sunshine Coast Queensland) found templates for their arts and crafts within the shapes of the landforms, flora and fauna of their local environment. This paper examines how a current project reconstructing traditional bark canoes on the Sunshine Coast despite limited images and specimens is awakening a deeper appreciation of how Indigenous  biomimicry encapsulates a rich lore concerning seasons and other environmental patterns.

What can the creation of artificial habitats to replace old-growth forests tell us about the process, value and future of design? This chapter takes a concrete and provocative example and uses it to rethink design as a gradual, ecological action. To illustrate this understanding, the chapter begins with a description of a proposal to provide artificial habitats for wild animals such as birds, bats and invertebrates. The controversial idea to replace rapidly disappearing old-growth trees with artificial structures puts in doubt habitual assumptions about the clients, procedures and goals of design. This example is of relevance to all design because the need to provide artificial habitats to nonhumans will be increasingly common under the influence of such phenomena as global warming or urbanisation. … The invention of artificial structures in place of natural habitats is described in this chapter as an incitement that highlights the need for further research into values, participants and methods of design. This discussion concludes with a proposal for an attitude of modesty in the face of increasingly overwhelming volumes of information as well as in the presence of an even greater ignorance about the futures of nondeterministic, volatile and incompletely controllable natural systems. The dilemma of design in these conditions is in the tension between its remit to act and the uncertainty that inescapably underlies any creative endeavour.

Certain confusion may be observed in the field of biomimetic architecture, as it emerges at the crossroad of two disciplinary domains: architectural design and biological sciences. If biomimetics is defined as a science, once it is applied to architecture, biomimetic architecture should logically be defined as a science too. This assertion collides with the nature of architectural design, which may rather be defined as a technology: its aim is to transform the world, not to explain it. On the one hand, there is no obvious relationship between architecture and life sciences. On the other hand, the biomimetic approach tends to redefine the concept of science itself by seeking to avoid the excesses of scientism. Moreover, existing applications of biomimetic design show that it is difficult to observe a genuine biomimetic architecture; most cases are closer to engineering component or urban planning and sometimes they involve little or no life sciences. The aim of this paper is to describe this conceptual confusion through two movements called "forcings", occurring between design and science. These forcings are conceptualised as shifts between constructed scientific objects and given empirical objects. Models, used in biology as in architecture, allow these shifts by virtue of their double function. They are both tools for knowledge and for design, thus they may be conceptually forced into what they are not supposed to be, particularly in the field of biomimetic architecture where design process and scientific knowledge are said to meet.

This chapter takes the reader on an intellectually challenging tour de force to set the scene for a
work of broad trans-disciplinary integration.  The reading is a lot less taxing in subsequent
chapters.  I begin by defining the concept of design employed throughout this thesis and briefly
chronicling the drastic expansion of the design concept over the last four decades.
Subchapter two revisits Horst Rittel’s wicked problems of design and emphasizes that
in a complex and fundamentally interconnected world most design involves facing wicked
problems.
Subchapter three explores the influence of the changing scientific worldview and the
emerging holistic sciences on design theory.  How a deeper understanding of complexity theory
may critically inform sustainable design solutions is explored in subchapter four.
Subsequently, in subchapter five, I suggest that since our goals and intentions change in
accordance with our worldview and value systems, design can be understood as a fundamentally
worldview dependent activity.  I provide a brief review of the history of the worldview concept,
and introduce a number of conflicting yet complementary approaches to understanding reality.
Sub-chapter six goes to the most upstream point – the source of all design process.  It
explores how organising ideas, basic assumptions and modes of consciousness can be
understood as a form of meta-design from which all other design flows.
In response, subchapter seven chronicles the history of holism and the emergence of a
more holistic perspective in science and society.  I suggest a holistic multi-perspective as a form
of sustainable meta-design. 
In subchapter eight, insights from developmental psychology are related to changes in
worldview and an expansion of ethical concern and empathic horizon from ego-centric, to eco-
centric, to world-centric.  The work of the psychologists Clare Graves and Abraham Maslow on human nature, needs and values is put in to the context of the emergence of a more conscious
and responsible design approach.
Subchapter nine introduces the notion of trans-disciplinary design dialogue as a
methodology for creating an integrated multi-perspective base for sustainable decision-making
and design.  It introduces the Spiral Dynamics map of worldviews and value-systems, as well as
a number of other potentially useful tools to facilitate such a collaborative and integrative design
approach.
Subchapter ten discusses the relationship between Integral Theory – Ken Wilber’s
framework for trans-disciplinary integration – Integral Ecology, and the design approach
advocated in this thesis.
Finally, to conclude this chapter aimed at putting design into the context of a complex
world, I propose that the multi-facetted and interconnected challenges associated with the
transition towards a sustainable human civilization is the wicked problem facing design in the
21st century.
...

The objective of this report is to present the project C1461 "Mobile Laboratory of Action and Thought in Biomimetic Arts" (2021-2022), registered at the South Headquarters of the University of Costa Rica. The purpose of the project is to create a space for the development of artistic and scientific exploration and production tools that combines sound and electronic arts, with engineering, architecture, archeology and biomimetics.
The project intends to weave links between different areas, as well as with other universities and scientific, artistic and cultural instances, with the purpose of studying pre-existing methodologies, and proposing transversal dialogues that promote technological design with a thought located in the context of the Brunca Region. of Costa Rica, taking into consideration the biodiversity and interculturality of the area.

Resumo: Esse artigo apresenta os resultados parciais de um projeto de iniciação científica que tem como objetivo estudar a biomimética presente em um grupo de mamíferos aquáticos da Amazônia ameaçados de extinção (boto, peixe-boi e ariranha). O intuito do estudo visa transpor informações e conhecimentos dos processos naturais para a aplicação na moda, visando à preservação das espécies.

Palavras chave: biomimética, design de moda, mamíferos aquáticos

In 1960, the renowned architect Philip Johnson championed Frederick Kiesler, calling him “the greatest non-building architect of our time.” Kiesler’s ideas were difficult to construct, but as Johnson believed, “enormous” and “profound.” Kiesler (1890–1965) went against the grain of the accepted modern style, rejecting rectilinear glass and steel in favor of more organic forms and flexible structures that could respond to the ever-changing needs of the body in motion.

In Elastic Architecture, Stephen Phillips offers the first in-depth exploration of Kiesler’s innovative and multidisciplinary research and design practice. Phillips argues that Kiesler established a new career trajectory for architects not as master builders, but as research practitioners whose innovative means and methods could advance alternative and speculative architecture. Indeed, Kiesler’s own career was the ultimate uncompromising model of a research-based practice.

Exploring Kiesler’s formative relationships with the European avant-garde, Phillips shows how Kiesler found inspiration in the plastic arts, experimental theater, early animation, and automatons to develop and refine his spatial concept of the Endless. Moving from Europe to New York in the 1920s, Kiesler applied these radical Dadaist, constructivist, and surrealist practices to his urban display projects, which included shop windows for Saks Fifth Avenue. After launching his innovative Design Correlation Laboratory at Columbia and Yale, Kiesler went on to invent new houses, theaters, and galleries that were meant to move, shift, and adapt to evolutionary changes occurring within the natural and built environment.

As Phillips demonstrates vividly, although many of Kiesler’s designs remained unbuilt, his ideas proved influential to later generations of architects and speculative artists internationally, including Archigram, Greg Lynn, UNStudio, and Olafur Eliasson.

https://www.amazon.com/Elastic-Architecture-Frederick-Kiesler-Research/dp/0262035731

Recently, the United Arab Emirates has been faced with a rapidly growing economy and has become intensively resource dependent. Consequently, it has topped a list of countries with the largest ecological footprint. At the same time there has been a movement towards sustainable design in the past few decades, mainly due to its significance in reducing the harmful impact of buildings on the environment. In line with UAE movement towards a green community, the author investigated the science of "Biomimicry" thoroughly and explored its power and strength in greening the community. Thus, it is important to highlight "Biomimicry" or "Biomimetic Architecture" philosophy as a powerful key to eliminating our ecological footprint. This has been widely used in contemporary architecture to seek solutions for sustainable design by examining natural species forms and systems as a source of inspiration to solve architectural problems. The author have selected the "butterfly" as the natural concept, highlighted a number of inspired strategies, implemented them on a residential unit in Dubai and assessed the case study by using simulation software Ecotect. This paper aims to investigate the effectiveness of different strategies on overall thermal comfort and energy performance. Finally, the study reveals some key findings that may help architects and buildings to enhance design solutions for a sustainable future in hot arid climate.

This article examines biomimicry, where organisms or ecosystems are mimicked in human design, as a means to either mitigate the causes of climate change that the built environment is responsible for, or adapt to the impacts of climate change.

Different biomimetic approaches to design are discussed and categorized, and a series of examples illustrate the benefits and drawbacks of each approach. Biomimicry’s potential role in addressing climate change in the built environment over the short, medium and long term is examined. Specific principles of ecosystem biomimicry for architecture have been deduced through a comparative cross-disciplinary review and are presented. It is posited that the incorporation of a thorough understanding of biology and ecology into architectural design will be significant in the creation of a built environment that
contributes to the health of human communities, while increasing positive integration with natural carbon cycles.

Although the contemporary biomimicry movement is associated primarily with the idea of taking Nature as model for technological innovation, it also contains a normative or ethical principle – Nature as measure – that may be treated in relative isolation from the better known principle of Nature as model. Drawing on discussions of the principle of Nature as measure put forward by biomimicry theorist, Janine Benyus (1997), and agro-ecologist, Wes Jackson (2010, 2011), while at the same time situating this principle in relation to contemporary debates in the philosophy of biomimicry (Mathews 2011, Dicks 2015, Blok and Gremmen 2016), this paper explores the relation between the principle of Nature as measure and environmental ethics. This leads to the argument that mainstream formulations of environmental ethics share the common trait of seeing our ethical relation to Nature as primarily involving duties to protect, preserve, or conserve various values in Nature, and that, in doing so, they problematically either overlook or dismiss as anthropocentric the possibility that Nature may provide measures, understood in terms of ecological laws and principles, against which our own practices, or at least some of them, may be judged – a way of thinking I call “biomimetic ethics”. The practical consequences of this argument are significant. Whereas mainstream environmental ethics is applicable above all to such issues as wilderness preservation, natural resource management, and animal rights and welfare, biomimetic ethics applies rather to the question of how we produce, use, and consume things, and, as such, may potentially provide the basic ethical framework required to underpin the transition to a circular, bio-based, solar economy.

This document is the syllabus for a graduate seminar I am offering this fall in the Department of Architecture at Kansas State University. The tripartite "Deep Beauty" construct, which is defined in the paper, outlines a new paradigm for sustainable design that recognizes that only those buildings and landscapes which are truly beautiful and connect us functionally and meaningfully to the living world  are truly sustainable. The textbooks and readings listed in the syllabus constitute an essential bibliography for an approach to design that must become universally applied if we are to survive and transcend the crisis of sustainability. It is both a call to action and a roadmap for change.

Biomimicry promises great progress in ecological design. Advocates, hinging on the work of Janine Benyus, argue that biomimicry enhances sustainable technologies. This essay suggests conceptual and ethical improvements to biomimicry: first by considering Michael Fisch's concept of bioinspiration through studying Neri Oxman's Silkworm Pavilion and second, through the articulation of a new concept of biosophia, drawing on Maurice Merleau-Ponty's late Institution and Nature lectures. His investigation of seemingly impossible proto-mimicry prior to perception discloses a deeper comportment toward biomimicry, revealing its conditions of possibility in intercorporeal expressivity. Biosophia grounds a deeper ethic of collaboration with other lifeforms.

Motivated by global climate change, including global warming and greenhouse gas emissions, architects and designers undertook a duty to look for more efficient, sustainable building systems. Among the modern tools used to tackle the building functionality and climate-related problems is biomimicry. Aiming to enhance self-sustainability, widen ecological building elements, and boost building behaviour efficiency, bio-mimicry draws from nature mimicking the life principles of biological role models which have proved to overcome similar challenges; thus, reaching building behaviour"s targets. The paper specifically discusses the embodiment of bio-mimetic strategies into building behaviour elements that increases building behaviour efficiency.

In recent years and due to the planet changing around us, sustainability is becoming more and more popular in design and architecture communities; they are becoming more aware of the impact of interior and exterior man-made environments.
Biomimicry, an applied science that focuses on emulating nature’s time-old solutions to problems, is one of the most prominent branch-es of sustainable designing in architecture; buildings are starting to interact with the planet rather than imposing on its balance. Yet, in interior design biomimicry is mainly used as a resource of lines, surfaces, shapes, and textures. The science behind Biomimicry is rarely used in the design process itself, which makes these designs themed and conceptualized after biomimicry, but not actually biomimetic.
This research’s aim is to use a scientific approach in design that can be integrated as a default design process. It will also highlight the differences between aesthetic and utilitarian use of biomimicry, reviewing past and present biomimetic design components and techniques, as well as, state of the art technologies invested in the cause. It also directs itself towards finding biomimetic materials, methods, and re-sources that are available in the industry’s market. Ultimately, allowing these concepts and theories to be implemented in a multi-functional residential project.

The purpose of this research is exploring how smart materials can be used to mimic nature in architecture, showing its impact on contemporary and future architecture, The reason for choosing this theme is the growing architectural and social concern for using evolutions in the field of bio-inspiration and smart materials to find new solutions for the increasing global environmental and social problems in terms of energy conservation and ecological design. The availability of various types of smart materials have great prospect for utilization in the field of architecture. In this context, thinking about using smart materials as a tool to mimic nature is a controversial area for research, opening the door to exceptional approaches for concept generation and optimization in the field of architecture, building, and construction. This thesis is an endeavor to link between innovative smart materials and bio inspiration through exploratory and analytical research, by focusing on the literature review of smart materials and bio-inspiration development, starting with exploring the taxonomy of smart materials, their types and characteristics, a set of selected properties and types is extracted, that could be used to imitate nature. Bio inspiration and methods of abstraction from biological systems are then studied, and linked with the extracted properties from smart materials, then after with comparative analysis, various crossovers from nature were explored. Case studies are then analyzed in order to evaluate the application of such an approach on current and future architecture. Smart materials are defined to be designed reactive materials; their properties can be changed by exposure to stimuli, such as electric and magnetic fields, stress, moisture and temperature. As the terminology suggests, the difference between bio-mimicry and bio-inspiration is that the first one is defined to be direct copying from nature, while the second is where and idea is taken from nature and improved to serve a certain purpose, bio-inspiration is the area involved in this study. The conclusions drawn from the comparative analysis of the case studies showed that, The case studies based on inspiration from biological systems such as, adaptivity of human cells and Homeostasis function in biological systems, are all in prototype stage, thus further mean that, inspiration from plant movement such as, Bird of the paradise flower pollination mechanism and wood cones, have more tendency for technical and architectural application rather than biological systems. It can also be inferred that the most common stimuli in architectural applications are solar radiation, temperature change and relative humidity. While in terms of energy conservation qualities, solar radiation control and optimized energy harvesting comes at the first place and then maintaining moister level in equilibrium with the surrounding relative humidity.

Building envelopes represent the interface between the outdoor environment and the indoor occupied spaces. They are often considered as barriers and shields, limiting solutions that adapt to environmental changes. Nature provides a large database of adaptation strategies that can be implemented in design in general, and in the design of building envelopes in particular. Biomimetics, where solutions are obtained by emulating strategies from nature, is a rapidly growing design discipline in engineering, and an emerging field in architecture. This paper presents a biomimetic approach to facilitate the generation of design concepts, and enhance the development of building envelopes that are better suited to their environments. Morphology plays a significant role in the way systems adapt to environmental conditions, and provides a multi-functional interface to regulate heat, air, water, and light. In this work, we emphasize the functional role of morphology for environmental adaptation, where distinct morphologies, corresponding processes, their underlying mechanisms, and potential applications to buildings are distinguished. Emphasizing this morphological contribution to environmental adaptation would enable designers to apply a proper morphology for a desired environmental process, hence promoting the development of adaptive solutions for building envelopes.

Nanotechnology is not new science, but it is new to some extent in the construction industry. Building material properties such as their mechanical strength, energy efficiency and the general concept of sustainability can be achieve to its maximum capacity when nanotechnology is incorporated in the construction industry. Common environmental problems such as global warming or green house effects can be tackled in a sustainable way. This paper will look in some details of areas in architectural composite materials and nanotechnology in architecture. These areas include innovative products and technology for the building skins, advance building skin design and performance of the building envelope.
Building materials that are widely used in the construction industries, right from their resources extraction through manufacturing, use and disposal have become a major component of the general effects on global ecosystem and climatic conditions of the earth. These effects contributed immensely in the deflection of the global climate of the globe. Portland cement alone for example contributed 8% of the total global greenhouse gas effects (David, 2014). Eco materials for building skin are buildings materials that make optimal use of resources, and produce as low as minimum waste to the ecosystem. The building façade most keep out the rain from the structure, a thermal boundary to diminish heat misfortunes and gains, an air obstruction to lessen invasion, and a vapour hindrance to forestall dampness relocation and condensation build-up inside the structure.
In light of the contemplations over, the building envelope is a key part of energy efficient high performance structures. Sunlight based gains, air spills, dampness control and thermal (conduction) misfortunes and increases are all influenced by the configuration and development of the building envelope. The building envelope influences the size and sorts of mechanical frameworks expected to give warming and cooling. With decently planned and built building envelopes, edge warming frameworks can typically be killed in everything except the coldest atmospheres. The building envelope and the setup of spaces inside the building likewise influence the possibility to bring sunlight into the building and to decrease lighting energy utilized. Additionally the successful heat energy stockpiling and discharge can prompt the crest diminishment of building warming and cooling burdens. PCMs have been acquainted as a creative path with diminish the cooling and warming interest of structures by utilizing viable heat energy stockpiling (Yoon, 2013). This research is based on past literature review of some written journals, books, magazine and internet web, it is strongly based on qualitative approach and case study was involved.
Keywords: new materials for the building skin, smart materials, intelligent building envelops, eco materials, kinetic architecture, green walls, Biomicry, digital fabrication, high tech lightweight building envelopes, intelligent sensing, intelligent control, intelligent optimization, building information modelling

As professionals of the built environment need to solve more urgent and difficult problems related to mitigating and adapting to climate change, it may be useful to examine examples of how the same problems have been solved by
other living organisms or ecosystems. Looking to plants or animals that are highly adaptable or ones that survive in extreme climates or through climatic changes may provide insights into how buildings could or should function. Examining the qualities of ecosystems that enable them to be adaptable and resilient may also offer potential avenues to follow. This chapter examines therefore whether biomimicry, where organisms or ecosystems are mimicked in human design, can be an effective means to either mitigate the causes of climate change the built environment is responsible for, or to adapt to the impacts of climate change. Different biomimetic approaches to design are discussed and categorized, and a series of case study examples illustrate the benefits and drawbacks of each approach. In light of the conclusions reached during the course of the research, it is argued that design that mimics ecosystems and utilizes synergies between mitigation and adaptation strategies in relation to climate change could be a beneficial long term biomimetic built environment response to climate change. The foundations of the theory to support this are also presented.

International research suggests that the built environment may be responsible for at least a third of global green house gas (GHG) emissions and that measures should be implemented to mitigate these. It is also the built environment, as the principle habitat of humans that will need to adapt to climate change impacts to keep people comfortable and safe. Architects and designers may need to explore new ideas that are reflective of a shift in both climate and in expectations of the built environment. This paper explores the potential of biomimicry, where organisms or ecosystems are mimicked in human design. The question is posed: in what way is mimicking the living world useful in the design of buildings that are able to either mitigate green house gas emissions or adapt to climate change impacts?

This paper investigates two possible options for an architectural biomimetic response to climate change. The
first is integrating biomimetic technologies able to mitigate green house gas emissions into buildings. The second approach is use biomimicry to adapt to the direct impacts of climate change on the built environment. Documented successes and potential benefits and difficulties inherent in such approaches are discussed. As well as a reduced or potentially negative carbon footprint for the built environment, this paper analyses further significant benefits that such an approach may offer. It is posited that the incorporation of an
understanding of the living world into architectural design could be a significant step towards the creation of a built environment that is more sustainable and one where the potential for positive integration with and restoration of natural carbon cycles is increased.

This paper is an exploration into the ways in which the relationship between sustainable design and ecological systems may be strengthened and better practiced by designers. There is an emergent school of design philosophy regarding the significance of a greater symbiosis between current sustainable practice in the built environment and the natural systems with which they influence and are influenced by. Encompassing this approach is the study of ‘regenerative design’, which adopts an alternative, yet arguably progressive, approach to that of conventional green practice. Regenerative design can be considered as a branch of biomimicry, as it often involves the mimicry of functions within natural ecosystems. This will be explored in this paper, with particular focus on ecosystem services analysis (ESA), which is a method often employed in regenerative design processes.

Ecosystem services refer to the benefits human populations derive from natural ecosystems and ESA seeks to provide an understanding, not only of the impact of these services on the local ecosystems, but also on the ability of a project, or a process, to actively restore and regenerate the native ecological health of a specific site.

The guiding philosophies and concepts of regenerative design have been explored through the review and analysis of existing literature in the field, as well as through comparison between regenerative and standard sustainability practices and associated green building assessment tools. The theory behind the research has been applied to a case study of an existing BREEAM-rated development, using ESA to determine some of the major ecological deficiencies between the present development and the native ecosystem of the site. Using the concept of ‘pre-development metrics’, a mixed method approach was used to establish design goals which are more aligned to the ethos of regenerative, rather than standard sustainable practice.

The awareness of Biomimicry within the processes of design and development in Nordic companies are not well known. As a result, The Nordic Council of Ministers Working Group for Sustainable Consumption and Production has called for this report to highlight Nordic forerunners in Biomimicry and actors and activities in the field of biomimicry, biomimetics and biologically inspired design in Nordic countries today. The study conducted by Torben Lenau, Lilli Linkola and Anna Maria Orrù, will present a basis for planning further activities to leverage the possibilities for actors in biomimicry and to disseminate knowledge and methodology on if and how nature's solutions can provide environmental and competitive advantages in business development. Results showed that over 100 organisations and almost 100 professionals from the Nordic countries are listed in the stakeholder map.

The world as we know it is coming to an end. Some would say this is not necessarily a bad thing. As the world hurtles headlong towards what Paul Gilding, with great understatement, calls the Great Disruption, there is a growing movement intent on not wasting a good crisis and the opportunities for renewal it brings. These are the thinkers and designers who believe that current approaches to sustainable building are merely rearranging the deckchairs on the Titanic; that to create a future in which humans will thrive, and not just survive the calamities we have created, a different approach is necessary. Whether they call such an approach regenerative design or Positive Development or biophilic design, it is based on one common idea: transforming the way we create the built environment so that it contributes to the well-being, nourishment and regeneration of the world and all its communities. With this book we explore the various practices being developed to go beyond contemporary notions of sustainability and green design to create a world in which humans and their ecosystems can flourish. Redefining 'the problem' If we allow ourselves an honest look, the future looks very scary. The operating parameters of our environment are changing in unpredictable and unprecedented ways. If we are lucky, these changes will be relatively slow and linear and we shall have time to adapt. However, the odds are

Searching for Solutions was commissioned by the Design Council to take the pulse of Sustainable Design. Although originally intended purely for internal consumption, it became clear in the course of speaking to some 95 people in the field that the attempt to map the terrain, however incompletely, was of interest to a wider audience and about 60 people have generously agreed to comment on it. Apart from highlighting the infelicities inevitable when roaming across such a broad landscape, it is hoped that this consultation process will add layers of nuance and refinement and will, in itself, enliven the debate.

Enerji başta olmak üzere çevresel sorunların her geçen gün hızla arttığı günümüzde, kaynakları sonraki nesillere en az zararla ulaştırmayı, başka bir deyişle, onların da insan haklarını korumayı hedef edinen mimarlık anlayışı önemli bir yer kazanmıştır. Bu anlayış içerisinde, mimarlığın amaçlarını daha iyi bir şekilde yerine getirmek hedeflenmekte ve bunun için belli yaklaşımlardan faydalanılmaktadır. Mimari tasarımlarda karşılaşılan, enerji yükünü azaltmak, enerjiyi verimli kullanmak, karbon emisyonunu düşürmek gibi problemlerde, doğanın sağlamış olduğu çözümlere başvurulmaktadır. Doğaya yönelim olarak isimlendirilen bu yaklaşımlardan biri ve hatta belki de en eskisi, Antik Yunanca bios (yaşam) ile mimesis (taklit) kelimelerinden türetilen ve yaygın anlayışa göre "doğanın taklit edilmesi" şeklinde ifade edilen biyomimikridir.
Doğa hangi şekilde olursa olsun taklit edilmelidir demek, biyomimikrinin özüne uyan bir düşünce değildir. Böyle ele alındığı takdirde, biyomimikri de postmodernizmin pençeleri arasına düşen ve moda haline gelen bir akım olmakla kalacaktır. Bu kapsamda; biyomimikrinin mimarlık alanına uygulanabilirliği, doğrudan ve dolaylı olmak üzere iki yaklaşım ile açıklanmakta ve uygulamanın ne şekilde gerçekleştirildiği üç taklit seviyesi (organizma, davranış, ekosistem) ile ilişkilendirilerek belirlenmektedir. Bildiri kapsamında; biyomimikri kavramı açıklanmakta ve biyomimetik bina örnekleri sözü edilen yaklaşımlar ve taklit seviyeleri esas alınarak incelenmektedir. Sonuç olarak, farklı yaklaşımların ve taklit seviyelerinin sağladığı faydalar belirlenerek, biyomimikrinin mimarlıkta karşılaşılan problemleri gidermede oynadığı rol ortaya koyulmaktadır.