Biomimicry + Kinetic + Sustainability
Prestige University / Sanjay Puri Architects
This week, I have a lot of questions.
- How can biomimicry be utilized to create sustainable kinetic architecture?
- What are the functional benefits of kinetic architecture?
- What are the functional benefits of biomimicry besides the perception of biomimicry creating harmony with humans and nature?
- Is it better to integrate literal plants into a building (ex: living green walls) than to attempt to recreate it?
- Is biomimicry about human perception or functional advantage? Both?
Those are just a handful of questions I'm thinking about this week. I'm interested in biomimicry, sustainability, and kinetic architecture. Recently, as I've come across some buildings that utilize actual greenery as opposed to kinetic technology, I've been wondering- is biomimicry meant to be a functional advantage? Or is it just meant to help humans perceive themselves as closer to nature? Can we as humans ever achieve the balance that nature has? Biomimicry is about imitating living plants and nature. I've been reading about buildings that use plants in their facades to filter air. Instead of imitating nature, why can't we partner with it? What are the benefits of using nature as a construction tool?
I just have a lot of questions this week, and not a lot of answers. The search for knowledge continues, I suppose. Feel free to add any input in response to my jumble of thoughts and questions.
Mud House at Mudavanmugal / G Shankar
Water Cherry House / Frédéric Ducout
Hey Virginia, these questions are great and I especially like your thoughts on function of biomimicry versus the viewers' perception as being closer to nature. That said, I expect that there will be examples of both. Looking forward to the next steps in this project!
ReplyDelete-Nic H
DeleteThose are in fact intriguing questions. What are you referring to, if you know at this stage, when you ask about human perception? Could it be the perception of the space? How one perceives exterior views? Or is it about the nature itself and how that is viewed?
ReplyDeleteThe first question you pose I find particularly interesting: using biomimicry to create kinetic architecture. How can biomimicry, to emulate and imitate nature's models, systems, and elements, create kinetic architecture with moveable structure? What if instead of focusing on biomimicry (innovations inspired by nature and recreated as an imitation of it with the goal of sustainability and connecting people with nature), you were to look at biomimetic architecture (the technical translation of functional strategies seen in and used by nature where sustainability is not an explicit goal)?
I don't have any knowledge on either of these points and used the source below for the definitions that you may have already found. However, it seems there is a difference between the two and whichever question you chose may use one form of bio___ architecture or the other. https://mcadsustainabledesign.com/biomimicry-or-biomimetics/
Here are the answers to your questions: it can't, there aren't any, there really aren't any, it's better to integrate plants, and it is about human perception.