architectural design & biology by Natasha Heil
Biology and architecture: An ongoing hybridization of scientific knowledge and design practice by six architectural offices in France
Frontiers of Architectural Research, 2020
URL : https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2095263520300704 As a highly int... more URL : https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2095263520300704 As a highly interdisciplinary field, architecture is being influenced by many subjects of natural and social sciences. Biology despite being apparently distant from architecture is currently a scientific field blending into design practices, which have evolved and shifted towards a new hybrid framework. In this article, we present an emerging design field of what we categorize as biomimetic architecture pioneering by six architectural offices in France. We observe the impact of scientific researches on design processes and practices through six case studies led by these offices, which can be seen through the actors who involved in various types of interdisciplinary collaborations, through the competencies of the architect himself, and through new sources of ideas coming from biological sciences and related fields. We propose to use a classification of theoretical uses in modeling practice to better understand the role that biological knowledge plays in architectural design practices. Finally, the result of this analysis shows that the use of biology taking place in a design space has external purposes, which transform it to produce engineering devices or urban schemes rather than architectural projects. It also shows that biology in architectural design induces other kinds of non-biological knowledge, is not strictly theoretical and could be obsolete or approximate. These findings lead to an epistemological discussion concerning the confusion between biological ‘knowledge’ and architectural design ‘know-how’.
Papers by Natasha Heil
Bioinspired, biobased and living material designs: a review of recent research in architecture and construction
Bioinspiration & Biomimetics
This article provides an overview of recent advances in the development of nature-based material ... more This article provides an overview of recent advances in the development of nature-based material designs in architecture and construction fields. Firstly, it aims to classify existing projects and ongoing researches into three types: bioinspired, biobased and living building materials. Secondly, selected case studies absolving different functions in building, are analysed to identify new opportunities and contemporary challenges of different nature-based approaches. The main gaps are identified between the progression at a theoretical level in laboratories and real-world application. Particulary, the challenge is to implement existing and future bioinspired, biobased and living building materials in large scale designs and architectural contexts. The authors also discuss different aspects of the inspiration and the use of nature to improve better the design of materials properties, robustness, durability, including sustainable awareness. Finally, an outlook of promising avenues for ...
Encyclopedia
The term “bioinspiration” defines a creative approach based on the observation of biological prin... more The term “bioinspiration” defines a creative approach based on the observation of biological principles and transfer to design. Biomimicry is the recent approach, which describes a large field of scientific and technical activities dealing with an interdisciplinary cooperation between biology and other fields with the goal of solving practical problems addressing innovation or sustainable development. Architecture has been influenced by many aspects of natural and social sciences, among these, biology is currently blending into design activities. Bioinspiration has evolved and shifted architectural practices towards numerous innovative approaches through different bioarchitectural movements from the past until the present. However, there is a blur of biomimicry within bioinspiration in architecture between the direct copy of mere natural forms and the true understanding of biological principles, which is the pivot of sustainable development. The main challenge remains in the gap bet...
HAL (Le Centre pour la Communication Scientifique Directe), 2018
As a highly interdisciplinary field, many subjects of natural and social sciences are influencing... more As a highly interdisciplinary field, many subjects of natural and social sciences are influencing architecture. While many subjects hold an indisputable effect on architecture, biological sciences are currently dominating the current era. It is totally comprehensible for architects to observe and imitate the natural phenomena on behalf of a better living. This article will present how to translate the lessons learned from the analysis and observation of the animal world to design experience. Skin is a complex and incredibly sophisticated organ that performs various functions, including protection, sensation, insulation and water regulation. The skin interfaces with the environment and is the first line of defense from external factors. Similarly, building envelopes serve multiple roles and they are the interface between the building inhabitants and environmental elements. In architecture, the boundaries between materials and structures are blurred the same way as in nature. The study of biological systems might be useful for our purposes on how new materials can be designed. The new material is inspired by the study of how animals' skins perform and respond according to their different properties; they take into consideration various dynamic local environmental conditions, creating a more sustainable way of building hence living. The projects will be focused on specific functions that were unique to the selected animals' skins. The biology of an animal and the environment it lives in determine these functions. The processes by which each animal analysis will be carried out, will innovate in the design and conception of new materials. Which will, in turn, inform new synthetic designs based on biological systems that will describe new aspects and performance of the building envelope.
HAL (Le Centre pour la Communication Scientifique Directe), Nov 15, 2017
HAL is a multidisciplinary open access archive for the deposit and dissemination of scientific re... more HAL is a multidisciplinary open access archive for the deposit and dissemination of scientific research documents, whether they are published or not. The documents may come from teaching and research institutions in France or abroad, or from public or private research centers. L'archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, émanant des établissements d'enseignement et de recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires publics ou privés.
Le biomimétisme : révolution dans l’architecture ?
Nectart, 2019
Les architectes se sont toujours inspires de la nature, generalement pour imiter la beaute de ses... more Les architectes se sont toujours inspires de la nature, generalement pour imiter la beaute de ses formes. Les progres techniques d’observation a tres petite echelle permettent aujourd’hui d’avoir une connaissance plus approfondie du fonctionnement de la nature et offrent une source de connaissance et d’inspiration nouvelle pour l’architecture. Le biomimetisme cherche essentiellement a s’inspirer de la nature pour inventer des solutions ecologiques. Dans le domaine de la construction, il peut dorenavant s’appliquer a l’architecture a tous les niveaux : materiaux auto-guerisseurs, ventilations passives, systemes d’auto-regulation, facades bioclimatisees, villes regeneratives, etc. Le biomimetisme pourrait offrir une nouvelle voie, tres prometteuse, a l’architecture. Laquelle ne donnerait plus uniquement forme et mesure a l’espace, mais pourrait relier le bâti a son environnement, et contribuer ainsi a la resilience de notre civilisation.
Biomimetic Methodology The Impact of Nature Inspired Algorithms on Biomimetic Architecture and Urban Design
At the time when the value of architecture no longer results from creating shapes in space, but r... more At the time when the value of architecture no longer results from creating shapes in space, but rather fostering relationships within it. A concept of architectural design becomes a strategic process rather than an object. Biological inspiration is dominating the era, and has its impact in diverse domains, including architecture and urbanism. The study of biomimetics bridges the biological functions, processes and organizational principles found in nature with our designs and technologies. Recently there are numerous mathematical algorithms have been developed along with the knowledge transferring process from the life forms to solve the design problems. Output of biomimetics study includes not only physical applications, but also various computation methods that can be applied in different areas. We can learn from biological processes and principles to design and develop a number of different kinds of optimisation algorithms that have been widely used in both theoretical study and ...
Energy and Buildings, 2021
Biomimetics is an opportunity for the development of energy efficient building systems. Several b... more Biomimetics is an opportunity for the development of energy efficient building systems. Several biomimetic building skins (Bio-BS) have been built over the past decade, however few addressed multiregulation although the biological systems they are inspired by have multi-functional properties. Recent studies have suggested that despite numerous tools and methods described in the literature for the development of biomimetic systems, their use for designing Bio-BS is scarce. To assess the main challenges of biomimetic design processes and their influence on the final design, this paper presents a comparative analysis of several existing Bio-BS. The analyses were carried out with univariable and multivariate descriptive tools in order to highlight the main trends, similarities and differences between the projects. The authors evaluated the design process of thirty existing Bio-BS, including a focus on the steps related to the understanding of the biological models. Data was collected throughout interviews. The univariate analysis revealed that very little Bio-BS followed a biomimetic design framework (5%). None of the Bio-BS was as multi-functional as their biological model(s) of inspiration. A further conclusion drawn that Bio-BS are mostly inspired by single biological organisms (82%), which mostly belong to the kingdom of animals (53%) and plants (37%). The multivariate analysis outlined that the Bio-BS were distributed into two main groups: (1) academic projects which present a strong correlation with the inputs in biology in their design processes and resulted in radical innovation; (2) public building projects which used conventional design and construction methods for incremental innovation by improving existing building systems. These projects did not involve biologists neither a thorough understanding of biological models during their design process. Since some biomimetic tools are available and Bio-BS have shown limitations in terms of multifunctionality, there is a need to promote the use of multidisciplinary tools in the design process of Bio-BS, and address the needs of the designers to enhance the application of multi-regulation capabilities for improved performances.
Buildings, 2017
Major problems worldwide are environmental concern and energy shortage along with the high consum... more Major problems worldwide are environmental concern and energy shortage along with the high consumption of energy in buildings and the lack of sources. Buildings are the most intensive energy consumers, and account for 40% of worldwide energy use, which is much more than transportation. In next 25 years, CO 2 emissions from buildings are projected to grow faster than in other sectors. Thus, architects must attempt to find solutions for managing buildings energy consumption. One of new innovative approaches is Biomimicry, which is defined as the applied science that derives inspiration for solutions to human problems through the study of natural designs' principles. Although biomimicry is considered to be a new approach for achieving sustainable architecture, but there is still not enough access for architects to make use of it, especially to implement biomimetic design strategy in architectural project. The main objective of this paper is to raise awareness of architects making use of biomimetic strategies with better accessible facility. We propose to create the tool setting relationship to formalize and bridge between biological and architectural knowledge, along with investigative tools to investigate the ability of reducing energy consumption by applying the biomimetic strategies on efficient-energy building design. This article hypothetically proposes an investigative tool based on Bayesian networks for testing the rapid result of choices from natural devices according to specific multi-criteria requirements in each case study.
Cahiers de la recherche architecturale, urbaine et paysagère, 2018
Face aux enjeux du développement durable et de son impact sur l'environnement, le secteur du bâti... more Face aux enjeux du développement durable et de son impact sur l'environnement, le secteur du bâtiment est confronté à un nécessaire besoin d'innovation. En septembre 2015, le Conseil économique social et environnemental émet un avis intitulé « Le biomimétisme : s'inspirer de la nature pour innover durablement » (Ricard, 2015). L'architecture y est présentée comme un des domaines d'application prometteurs et il est fait état d'une activité de conception architecturale émergente bio-inspirée capable de répondre aux enjeux environnementaux actuels. Biomimétisme en architecture. État, méthodes et outils Les Cahiers de la recherche architecturale urbaine et paysagère, 1 | 2018 1. La nature comme modèle : le biomimetisme étudie les modèles de la nature, puis imite ou s'inspire de leurs caractéristiques pour résoudre des problèmes humains.
Forcing biological sciences into architectural design: On conceptual confusions in the field of biomimetic architecture
Frontiers of Architectural Research
Biology and architecture: An ongoing hybridization of scientific knowledge and design practice by six architectural offices in France
Frontiers of Architectural Research
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architectural design & biology by Natasha Heil
Papers by Natasha Heil