Biology as the Influencer of Architecture If you take the time to walk outside and look a little closer at nature you will begin to realise that there is a degree of symmetry in what seems like chaos. Take for example the ‘Dracena reflexa’ plant, or ‘Song of India’ as it is known. This is a […]
Architect Doris Kim Sung asks: Why can’t building materials be more adaptable? Why can’t they function more like clothing, or even human skin? Having studied biology at Princeton University intending to go to medical school, Sung applies principles of biology to her work as an assistant professor of architecture at the University of Southern California. […]
Architecture that literally grows has grown as a green building concept, though it still generally sees sporadic moments in the sun but no real mainstream uptake. The notion of bio-architecture, or growing structures or features of structures has always been a green building ideal. Like many other innovative concepts, however, it has never caught on […]
In many parts of the world there seems to be an overriding atheistic belief that surrounds the creative industry. In the architectural sector, a bastion of such beliefs, the notion of God in design is something that is rarely, if ever, discussed. And when one does broach the subject, the response is either a somewhat […]
The project is a small cabin in Victoria’s Central Highlands. The brief for this project was to provide a two stage residential project including a cabin and a house, the first stage of which is shown here. The site contains a beautiful forest of extant Stringybark woodland. Our original interest was […]
One of the most effective ways to cut down the ecological footprint of buildings is to follow the lead of nature through biomimicry. Habitat 2020 is a future forward example of biomimetic architecture that fuses high-tech ideas with basic cellular functions to create ‘living’ structures that operate like natural organisms. This nature-inspired approach […]
The discipline of biomimicry takes its name from the Greek words ‘bios’, meaning life and ‘mimesis’, meaning to imitate. As its name might suggest, biomimicry involves the study of nature’s designs and mimicking them to solve human challenges. Janine Benyus, one of biomimicry’s pioneers defines it as, ‘innovation inspired by nature.’ […]