University of Pisa
School of Engineering
Department of Energy, Systems, Territory and Construction Engineering Master’s Degree in Building Engineering Architecture
Thesis
Digital Biomimetic Morphogenesis of High-Rise Building
with respect to Structural Shaping Optimization
Supervisor: Candidate: Prof. Ing. Maurizio Froli Marco Sodano Ing. Francesco Laccone
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Preface
This thesis was undertaken as conclusion of the course degree in Civil and Architectural Engineering and consists in the planning of a high-rise building through digital morphology based on the principle of biomimetic. The building was analysed considering the structural aspect, in which the pre-dimensioning and the verification were carried out using the Finite Element Method (FEM) while a computational process was used to design the complexity.
The section concerning the genetic resolution (Galapagos) and the design of the turbines connected to the building was carried out in collaboration with the student Alberto Casali, who managed the part regarding the performance-based design, consisting in fluid-dynamic analysis undertaken through CFD as evaluation mechanism. The analysis determined the shape of the high-rise building, which was chosen to minimise the production of energy thanks to the introduction of Aeolian turbines.
Abstract
The thesis ‘Digital Biomimetic Morphogenesis of High-Rise Building’ presents the planning of a skyscraper through a method based on biomimetic, which is defined as the imitation of models, systems and elements of nature aimed to solve complex human problems. This particular planning process utilised in-depth analysis including parametric models which permitted the optimisation of the structural elements. The biomimetic analogies, including the mechanical and functional properties of bamboo stem, were transposed through a mathematical and analogic process, within the morphological and structural configuration of a high-rise building, in order to obtain advantages both in terms of static performances and optimisation of the use of materials. Comparing in fact, the bamboo stem with a high-rise building, it can be noticed how the performance of the biological model are similar to the chosen structural system. Therefore, an eventual shape of the tower, conceived through the differentiation principle of the bamboo laws, can provide an appropriate reaction to the lateral loads, which are preponderant compared to the gravitational actions. The parametric planning, integrated with new software and methods, gave the opportunity to face the complexity of the project and resulted fundamental for the planning management of this type of building.
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CONTENTS
Introduction
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A new concept of sustainability
1.3.1. Bioclimatic architecture 32 1.3.2. Green Building 33 1.3.3. Eco-sustainable architecture 33
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Biomimetics
2.1.1. Other bio-approaches 452.3.1. Learning from the results of evolution 49
2.3.2. Learn from the evolutionary process 49
2.3.3. Learning from the principles of evolution 50
1.1. The evolution of the relationship between biology and architecture 22
1.2. Ecological humanism and technological humanism 28
1.3. Moral awareness, a methodological choice 32
1.4. Towards Biomimetics 35
2.1. Origins and definitions 39
2.2. The three main strands of development in biomimetics 46
2.3. The three levels of learning from nature 48
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Technical Biology and Load-Bearing Structures
3.1.1. Radiolaria 56
3.1.2. Diatoms 60
3.1.3. Tensegrity Structures, hybrid truss 64
3.3.1. Isostatic lines 69
3.3.2. Human bones 70
3.3.3. Nervi, ribbed structures 71
3.4.1. Isoflex System 73
3.4.2. Ideals Shells 75
3.5.1. Biological pneu 79
3.5.2. Technological Building, Soap Film 79
3.5.3. From pneu to “Tensarity” 81
3.6.1. Principles of Tree Structure 85
3.6.2. Tent Roofs 86
3.1. Spatial Structure, the dome 55
3.2. Folded Structures, Origami 66
3.3. Structures based on the Principles of Bone 69
3.4. Shell Structures 73
3.5. Pneumatics: Buildings 77
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Biomimetics of Building
4.1.1. Biomimicry design spiral 91
4.1.2. Biological criteria of an architecture 93
4.1.3. BioTRIZ 96
4.1.4. Definitions from the VDI 97
4.3.1. Historical Background 103
4.3.2. Structural System 107
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Methods and tools
5.2.1 Identification of the pattern 129
5.2.2 Bamboo Steam 130
5.3.1 Identification of the mathematical / physical model 135
5.3.2 Bamboo laws 135
5.3.3 Considerations 137
5.4.1 Translation of the pattern in a digital model 138
5.5.1. Analysis FEM (Finite Element Method) 143
5.5.2. Genetic Algorithms 144
4.1. Biomimetics for Buildings 91
4.2. Building Biomimetics 101
4.3. Structural considerations in the design of Tall Building 102
5.1. Problem Definition - Stage 1 127
5.2. Search for Biological System – Stage 2 129
5.3. Abstract Design Solutions – Stage 3 134
5.4. Transfer the Solution – Stage 4 138
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Case Study
6.2.1. Concept Design 154
6.2.2. The proportions definition 162
6.2.3. The shaping 171
6.4.1. Gravitational loads 178
6.4.2. Wind loads 179
6.5.1 Core preliminary design 185
6.5.2. Diagrid preliminary design 190
6.5.3. Numerical model 199
6.5.4. ULS check of the Diagrid elements 201
6.5.5. Analysis of lateral displacements 208
6.5.6. Optimizing the diagrid sections using a genetic solver 211
6.7.1. Preliminary design 220
6.7.2. Numerical model 224
6.7.3. ULS checks 225
6.7.4. Analysis of horizontal displ. and comparison with the previous model 230
6.1. Wind site characterization 151
6.2. Morphogenesis Process 154
6.3. Conception of structural elements 174
6.4. Analysis of loads 178
6.5. Vertical structure: Core and Diagrid 185
6.7. Horizontal diaphragms - Spatial Truss 219
6.8. Turbine connection 235
6.9. Wind-energy estimation 238
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Conclusions
247List of Figures
251List of Tables
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Introduction
Topic
Since ancient times, during the story of mankind, nature has represented an important reference and inspiration model, which has led to the creation of numerous technical and expressive works. The human being was learning to be more aware and attentive towards the infinite perfection of nature.
This research intended to develop and implement this study describing the evolution of high-rise buildings through biomimetic principles.
The expression biomimetic represents a scientific approach to the study of organisms’ and natural ecosystems’ biological and bio-mechanical processes through which is possible to extract principles that can be reproduced through digital processes in the planning of human artefacts. It consists in a multidiscipline approach which has only recently been formalised and involves some of the most vanguard international institutions in the field of the architectonical experimentation.
By the utilisation of structural engineering studies and organic precedents, will be developed a sustainable and elegant structural solution for high-rise buildings, in which the biological influences will lead to innovative strategies. As the director of SOM research Mark Sarkisian states, “forms found in nature have superior engineering,
inherent memory, and a great deal of elasticity”. Therefore, the solution will be achieved
by starting from an analysis of the natural structural shapes which are safe and efficient to the extraction of the functional and mechanic logic within them. With the help of mathematical formulas will be developed a technological precept which constitutes the biomimetic essence.
The research describes both the evolution of the technical solution inspired to biology and the maturation of the complex planning concept. This concept is identified in the difficulty of interpreting and correlate the mathematical and physical logics within the natural morphologies, which arise from different disciplines such as biology, sociology, urban planning and computer science. Thanks to this last technology, the transition from the theory to the practice is possible and the complexity turn from a speculative and
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analysis topic to a composition element. Although the complexity design methods are various, in this thesis it is developed the method of computational complexity, which refers to the identification of programmes and algorithms in the field of software engineering. Through this, it is in fact possible the calculation of complex architectural projects using parametric software, which take into account the numerous data that need to be calculated.
The parametric software, which integrate in the systems the complexity of the geometric and functional development of biological precepts, allow the representation and the reproduction of models that, thanks to the synchrony between the parameters, can be grown and modified as organisms. The parametric systems provide new opportunities for interrelation, useful to adapt the project in the context and according its restrictions and to explore the various prospects inherent to a formal idea, which variables would be scarcely verified and manged through analogies. This relates to an important change in the paradigm.
This revolutionises the design logic and it is close to the morphological logics of the same natural organisms. The connection between the theory of the digital architectural design and the biological paradigms is recognised in the scientific field as digital morphogenesis. In the development of this project, the equations describing the structural morphology will be transferred, through the utilisation of parametric programmes such as Rhinoceros and Grasshopper plug-in, in a computational model. This model, which will have the same geometric and structural characteristics of the biological precept, will form the base of the experimentation. It will lead to the conception of a new technological three-dimensional precept: a high-rise building with a biomimetic structural morphology.
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Synopsis
The research consists in three parts. The first one defines the theoretical field which legitimates and explains the need for this study and the application of the biomimetic processes. The construction of the historical critical framework in the first chapter, examines the evolution of the relationship between mankind and environment within a cultural, literary and philosophic framework. In parallel, the same relationship is examined under the architectonic aspect, analysing the period from the birth of the modern movement to present days.
In the second chapter, will be analysed the origins and the definitions that, during the last decades, have defined the biomimetic. Through the analysis of the three principal currents responsible for its development, the biomimetic will be compared to other bio-approaches resulting in experimental conclusions about its evolution.
In order to understand how the study of the natural shapes and structures has influenced and inspired the development of many technologies, and structural and architectonic ideas, in the third chapter will be illustrated few examples of biology natural structures. These will be later classified according to their characteristics and will be indicated technological prototypes which they have analogies with.
In the latest years, there was an increment in the realisation of biomimetic structures, which has shaped the need for an innovative methodological organisation through which the artificiality of the natural solution can be managed. Therefore, in the fourth chapter will be listed all the different definitions of biomimetic and the methodological approaches adopted by scientists which, during the decades, have had the role of creating bio-products starting from technology.
The aim of this first part is both a didactic overview, proving the reader the tools necessary for the understanding of the project, and an educational procedure which helps the formulation of a methodology fundamental for the extrapolation and the transfer of the natural morphology to the technological project which represents the subject of the thesis. The second part, included in chapter five, starts with the definition of the research methodology which outline the trajectory for the development of the main theme. The methodology is composed by two interconnected and similar processes: first is the
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Technology Pull method, which represents the conceptual part of the methodology and starts from the identification of a problem, encouraging the designer to research, through a knowledge and research process, a precedent which is identified in a natural structural project. Second, is the real process which is identified through mathematical models that simplify the abstraction of biological precepts deriving from the knowledge phase, utilising parametric software.
The third part focus on the operational summary of the entire research work, giving details about the descriptive phase of the digital experimentation. The structure of the sixth chapter will provide the elaboration of the final results and the planning evolution of the high-rise building.
The guideline constituting the base of the structural design of the same high-rise building, is composed by two different and interconnected parts: the biomimetic design and the performance-based design, which are contained in a morphogenesis process. Through both the computational application of the mathematical equations extracted from the biological process and the fluid-dynamics considerations will be obtained an optimal shape which is modelled according to the restrictions imposed by the design logic. Therefore, it was defined a structural scheme in which each component was chosen taking into account the architectonic needs and a simple structural logic, which is clear, efficient and includes mathematical formulas.
For this purpose, tower made of three have been designed, connected by spatial horizontal beams (deriving from the biomimetic design) constituting the whole building. These have been deduced by fluid-dynamic considerations of the shape, which was modelled in order to increase the wind speed e therefore maximise the energy produced by the turbines, located in the inner hollow cylinder. The three towers present a mixed system composed by an outer steel Diagrid structure and an inner nucleus made of reinforced concrete. These two structural systems are connected by plate slabs in post-tense reinforced concrete, which guarantee a correct diaphragm effect for the horizontal beams and the transmission of the actions between the two systems.
Furthermore, in this chapter were illustrated the pre-dimensioning and the verifications of the sub-structures which compose the structural installation. The importance of the use of the genetic algorithms and evolutionary solving programmes will be understood through a process of optimisation undertaken by the Diagrid sections, through Galapagos.
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Aims
The discipline is focused on the production of biomimetic artefacts related to the fields of energy efficiency and architecture technology, however the most relevant results can be obtained applying the same processes to the morphologic research of the construction organism. The object of the dissertation is to introduce tools and methods which help this transition while at the same time getting closer to the biomimetic discipline.
During the generation process, the selection of the high-rise building as genus of the structural system to implement led to the evaluation of aspects which are more critical than other types of buildings. Compared to low buildings in fact, high-rise ones present higher problems, such as: the ratio between net and gross floor area; the structure’s reaction to lateral loads; the environmental regulation of the inner areas; the vertical circulation and the impact of the high-rise building on the surrounding environment. Therefore, the research intends to incorporate the functional and structural parameters of the tower system with the geometric and biological model distribution principles to provide an efficient and dynamic structural system. To perform this integration the specific structural organic sequences will be emulated in order to replicate their best characteristics:
• High resistance/weight ratio; • Greater overall rigidity;
• Optimised shape to maximise the stability and distribution of the loads with a minimal use of material;
• Total volume reduction of materials required to eliminate large amounts of waste, using efficient structural shapes.
However, such an important structure as the tall building, which uses high quantities of energy, should be able to produce the energy on its own. Therefore, analysing the realistic opportunities, the implementation of the Aeolic turbines in the building was retained the most advantageous option because of the height of the structure (high heights guarantee high wind speeds and higher production of energy). For this reason, it was taken advantage of the shape of the building to maximise the wind flow.
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The goal is identified in the design of a tall building with the ability of adapting itself among mutable loading conditions, such as the lateral wind action could be; which represents one of the fundamental principles of biomimetic method. Thanks to the parametric approach, it has been investigated the feasibility of a computational model able to modify its structural elements with respect to specific geographic requests, through several algorithms developed to transform environmental input into design optimisation output.
For this reason, it was decided to not locate the building in a specific site. Since the structural analysis and the energetic consideration constrain the data in a real context, the referred values of the wind are the ones registered in the city of Pisa (Italy).
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1
A new concept of sustainability
“Everything we design is a response to the specific climate
and culture of a particular place.”
(Norman Foster)
Disciplines such as bioethics and the history of the environment only started to get academic recognition in the late 60s and early70s, in conjunction with the growing social impact of environmental movements, with the publication of the first treatises in specialised literature (Meadows, 1972) and with the oil crisis which followed the 1973 Kippur war. Although these disciplines are relatively new, it is undeniable that the impact of these subjects on architectural and urban thought has strongly contributed to the evolution of methods and processes in design.
This thesis will therefore try to identify the main moments in the development of the debate on the relationship between man and the environment in architecture since the 1960s. In this chapter, architecture will be first analysed on the basis of its relationship with technological change and scientific knowledge related to ecology, and secondly, an attempt will be made to understand how its evolution is also linked to the development of a growing moral awareness of the relationship between man and the environment. The main lines of research, the families of terms and the different approaches are identified by the various expressions of architecture: bioclimatic, solar, passive, ecological, organic, sustainable, all the way up to biomimetic architecture.
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1.1. The evolution of the relationship between biology and architecture
The relationship between architectural theories and natural sciences is one of the main constants that are encountered in the course of architectural history. In fact, from the reconstruction of the evolution of the relationship between biology and architectural design, some particularly indicative episodes can be evinced. The most relevant phenomena and processes induced by the landscape include: English parks; utopian theories on integration between the city and the countryside, (Owen, Fourieur, Cabet); the first English and German working-class neighbourhoods; the Garden Cities of E. Howard.
Figure 2 Garden City, E. Howard.
Pollution and overcrowding were the main problems of the English cities in the second half of the nineteenth century, and the city garden aimed to solve them both. According to Howard, the main cause of congestion in cities was private speculation, which induced the intensive exploitation of the land. His plan was based on the idea that one has to save
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the city from congestion and the countryside from neglect: the garden city which he envisioned would unite the advantages of urban life to the pleasures of the countryside. Howard did not trust big cities and thought that these should be divided into small autonomous and self-sufficient units. Howard’s plan included the construction of new towns that would be self-governed by the citizens themselves and not dependent on a single individual or on some industry. Moreover, the urban and rural areas had not to be in conflict but linked harmoniously.
Around the '60s, new situations emerged. The awareness of the complexity of the exchanges between the physical environment and human intervention placed emphasis on the serious phenomena caused by industrialization, mobility, economic well-being, urbanism and the immense growth of the metropolis. Deforestation, landslides, the serious alteration of the landscape and coastal areas, hydrogeological instability, the reduction of botanical and biological species, the biological impoverishment of soil, air and water pollution; all required urgent interventions and solutions that could no longer be postponed. During the initial phase in which the discipline of environmental design established itself in Italy, which corresponds roughly to the 60s, the question of the protection and care of the landscape, conceived as a historical, environmental, formal and figurative entity, was at the centre of the debate. In that phase, the architectural culture mainly focussed its attention on components of the environment of a morphological and figurative nature, cultivating an interpretation of the landscape that had essentially aesthetic and formal values, neglecting the evaluation of complex needs linked to the biological nature of the organisms and the natural elements that inhabit the environment. This approach is linked to aestheticizing interpretations aimed at protecting the figurative and formal values of the environment, a characteristic element of landscape architecture, influenced by contemporary Anglo-Saxon experiences that imposed the practice of Townscape and Landscape and proposed Environmental Design, thereby shifting the interest from the design of the construction to the context, to the whole environmental system.
In fact, in those years, research and writings on the theme of the landscape stimulated greater attention from the architectural culture towards the perceptive aspects of the landscape, conceived as an artificial entity. Already in the 50s, the contribution of the psychologist W. Hellpach had highlighted the problem of the global perception of the
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landscape with the help of all of the senses and with reference to a series of psycho-physical sensations that are also present in the sub-conscious.
The Metabolist movement, which appeared in Japan in the 1960s, was among the first to consider the reference to biology in a completely different way from previous architectural movements. In the '70s, this approach to the environmental problem, which was prevalently linked to the world of perception, was deeply distorted by the occurrence of new events and by the onset of processes of a political, social and cultural nature that underlined the importance of the collective and social function of the landscape. In these years the hypothesis of a technological management of the environment began to take shape. The need to protect the imbalances of the eco-system demanded studies and new alliances and developed a wealth of ecological literature, which, at different levels of application and with various objectives, impacted the fields of architecture, urban planning and technology, as well as the economic research sector. The influence of ecological essays on the political sphere was immediate: movements, parties and associations promoted the first environmental initiatives, which chose as their objective the protection of the ecosystem and the relationship between man and the environment. Studies and research proliferated that addressed environmental issues from multiple points of view. 1971 saw the publication of ‘Various Authors: A planet to inhabit:
requirements and performances for the built environment’, a book that made a significant
contribution to the divulgation of environmental problems. An interpretation of technology was proposed as an alternative to the technology of industrialized and advanced processes, which, in the construction sector, was designed for the intensive exploitation of the soil and the construction of large, high density, urban complexes. The radical critique of the development of megacities, of the concept of production and consumption, of the policy of interventions supported by large national companies, of the effect of decontextualization that such advanced technological systems had produced, remained relegated to small groups of workers and researchers, having a very marginal effect on the most important choices taken with regard to the transformation of the physical environment.
In the book ‘Landscape and aesthetics’, technology is considered the greatest instrument of destruction of the landscape, conceived as an aesthetic entity; the condemnation of this new instrument was total, with no possibility of appeal. In Italy, the scenario regarding
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architectural culture inspired by environmental protection was divided into two different approaches. The first was expressed by a group of architects who affirmed the need to preserve the traditions of local architecture and the preservation of the values of the historical centres, which were being attacked by massive interventions of urban speculation, while the second approach was essentially headed by environmental associations, such as Italia Nostra, which were aimed at defending nature from the great destructive attack launched by the urban speculation of that time. For example, in Naples, the energetic and combative action of a distinguished architectural historian, Roberto Pane, influenced the architectural culture, combining the themes of the enhancement of the pre-existing architectural heritage with the protection of landscape values. Soft technologies became synonymous with non-destructive environmental intervention, with a very high level of flexibility and reversibility in the transformation of the environment. The use of so-called light construction materials and systems, which proposed steel structures and inflatable tents, represented an alternative to the more widespread use of reinforced concrete in buildings. Thus, the concept of appropriate or alternative technology was born as a means to contrast the sale and export of industrialized building products that were completely alien to the culture of local dwellings, climate and landscape.
Among the main lines of thought present in modern architecture is Hugo Hearing's Expressionist and Organicist current, which, in essence, opposes the standardization and production of mass-produced products, rejecting the methodological approach through which things are given shape from the outside as opposed to their continuous internal formal flux. For the Metabolists, it is above all important to observe and establish an analogy between the processes that govern the natural systems and those that regulate the formation and life of the city as a whole. Moreover, in the writings of Hugo Hearing can be found a series of considerations, even methodological ones, which oppose the prevalent view of the Modern Movement enshrined in the CIAM declarations. 1 Hearing believed that the first problem to face was that of constructing the artefact as a vital organism. He strongly denied the identification between functionality and aesthetics and
1 The international congresses of modern architecture or CIAM were born from the need to promote
functional architecture and urban planning. The first meeting took place in 1928 in La Sarraz (Switzerland). During the eleventh congress in 1959, held in Otterlo (the Netherlands), the members decided to cease their activity.
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challenged, in a radical and convinced way, the idea of a city as theorized and sustained by Le Corbusier in 1925 in his Principles of Urbanism. Some aspects of Hearing’s thinking can be found in those years, albeit in a substantially different context, in the cultural programs and in the operative actions of the Metabolist movement.
According to the Metabolists, the city is the privileged seat of all processes of transformation of matter and energy. Therefore, for the Metabolist movement, it is essential to introduce the variable of time, which constitutes the fundamental dimension of biological systems but is almost completely neglected by the architecture of functionalism. Among the fundamental principles of the Metabolist movement is, firstly, that all of society must be seen as a part of a natural entity that includes the animal and vegetable kingdoms, and secondly, that technology must be interpreted as a natural and consequent extension of humanity. This position, as is evident, is in stark contrast to the predominantly Western conception of modernization, which considers the conflict between man, nature and technology as inevitable.
Expressionism, on the other hand, proposes a poetic and fantastic use of technology, imagining large spatial structures in glass and steel that are open to external spaces. The designs of Bruno Taut undoubtedly clarify the myth of progress and faith in the limitless possibilities of technology and the absence of limits in the use of natural resources. In Bruno Taut’s design for the expo in Cologne, the Glashaus, (1914) can be seen the religious attitude towards this material, that is, glass, a depositary of the expressionist utopias for the rebuilding of a new society. Bruno Taut worked in close collaboration with the poet Paul Scheerbart, who in those years wrote a collection of poems and aphorisms called “The architecture of Glasarchitektur”.
Taut dedicated the Cologne pavilion to his poet friend. Scheerbart wrote a series of verses that were placed inside and outside the exhibition pavilion:
“Glass architecture, which lets in the light of the sun, the moon and the stars, not merely
through a few windows, but through every possible wall, which will be made entirely of glass - of coloured glass. The new environment, which we thus create, must bring us a new culture”.
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Figure 4 Glass dome, Glaspavillon, Bruno Taut (1914). Figure 3 Glaspavillon, Bruno Taut (1914).
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1.2. Ecological humanism and technological humanism
The first global ecological conscience was born in the 1980s when, following the first meetings between the various countries to discuss climate change, an attempt was made to reconcile economic growth and an equal distribution of resources in a new model of sustainable development. However, the environmental question became the subject of international discussion only in 1992 following the Rio Earth Summit, where the “United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change” was drafted. This later led to the negotiation of the “Kyoto Protocol”2.
The recognition of the need to achieve greater environmental awareness, which reached the general public only after the clamour caused by the first world conference on the environment involving heads of state, has been around for several decades, during which time architectural supporters have experiment with new methodologies, often in contrast with each other. Different approaches were established in the late 70s, with the creation of architecture in various parts of the world. In northern Europe, for example, the first experiences of participatory design were born in response to the rigidity and coldness of modernist constructions. These were inspired by the use of local materials, such as the co-housing complexes of Tegnestuen Vandkunstenin Denmark, Joachim Eble’s council houses in Germany and the works of Lucien Krollin in Belgium. These are projects that are part of architectural research and are defined as being low-tech. The sustainability of a building is pursued through the use of natural materials, like wood, and construction systems with low technological content, taken from history and local tradition.
Significant examples in the international field are the earthen constructions of Sverre Fehnand and the paper tube structures made by Shigeru Ban. In the uncompromising search for an eco-sustainable building that leads to a concept of radical sustainability, one of the names that stands out is that of the architect Michael Reynolds, known as the “waste architect”. He boasts the use of recycled material for the creation of housing solutions
2 The Kyoto Protocol is an international environmental treaty concerning global warming, drawn up on
December 11, 1997 in the Japanese city of Kyoto by more than 180 countries at the Conference of the Parties "COP3" of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The treaty came into force on February 16, 2005, after ratification by Russia. By May 2013, 192 States have signed and ratified the protocol.
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that are entirely built using waste products, carrying forward what he calls “radically sustainable living”.
Another promoter of ecological construction is Paolo Soleri, who, with his experiment in the village of Arcosanti, brings the relationship between architecture and ecology to what can be called no-tech, devising a discipline for the construction of cities in which there is no need for mechanized means of transport.
At the other end of the spectrum, the attention given to technological aspects linked to natural air conditioning, the reduction of energy consumption, the use of alternative energy and the fight against different kinds of pollution, have led sustainable architecture to pay great attention both to technological innovation and to formal innovation, producing both mainly high-tech solutions and more organic and biomorphic approaches, often in the works of the same architect. These are people who have long been defined as high-tech architects, above all Norman Foster, Renzo Piano, Richard Rogers and Thomas
Figure 5 Nordic Pavilion, Sverre Fehn, (1962).
Figure 7 Arcosanti Village, Paolo Soleri (1970). Figure 6 Earthship, Michael Reynolds.
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Herzog. The research of these professionals aims to create a relationship between form and technology in which this second aspect, combined with the use of new materials, elements and typological components, aims to improve active and passive energy performance. Thus, the building elements become energy devices for regulating the microclimate in a new architecture that celebrates techniques with an ecological slant. The most representative buildings of the high-tech approach are found in the architecture of Foster and Partners: the tower of the Commerzbank in Frankfurt, the new dome of the Reichstag in Berlin, and Stanstead airport in London. Many of the technological innovations born in this context and applied for the first time in these buildings, such as the double skin envelope, are today part of the traditional solutions of contemporary architecture.
Figure 9 Reichstag, Norman Foster (1999).
The so-called ecological architecture has been experienced and experimented in an audacious way by a multitude of professionals through principles and solutions that, falling between low-tech and high-tech, have given life to varying gradations and interpretations that fall between the extremes of the two schools of thought described so
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far, according to trends, needs and opportunities. As early as the 1970s in Germany, Günter Behnisch was producing work in a luminous and colourful architecture, which owed much to his humanist philosophy and was very free in the composition of forms and volume. Rather than trying to achieve particularly high performance in terms of the user’s well-being, he tried instead to teach the user to adopt an attitude of greater communion with nature. Many others, especially in the German and Swiss schools, have moved on the horizon that Gauzin-Müller defines ecological minimalism:
“Over the last ten years, a new generation of architects and engineers has emerged that
is less militant and more pragmatic than the pioneers of the seventies. Using modern design and simulation tools, these designers of minimalist architecture create through innovative techniques and products buildings whose minimalism places them firmly in the modern age. Without exhibiting energy saving coefficients and ecological patents, their buildings integrate these parameters as constituent elements of the design. Strong ideas and precise design are combined to respond appropriately to the site and the project brief. They successfully subtract themselves from the constraints of the site and the project brief. They masterfully subtract themselves from conventional principles and techniques and combine raw and precious materials in an essential way, willingly using prefabrication to reduce construction time and limit costs”.3
The architects who adopt this approach, including Kauffman Theilig, MGF Architekten, Metron, Baumschlager & Eberle & Kauffman, use poor materials and construction techniques in order to reduce construction costs and always seek design quality in the responsible use of resources.
3 D. Gauzin-Muller, Architettura sostenibile. 29 esempi europei di urbanistica, qualità ambientale, sviluppo
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1.3. Moral awareness, a methodological choice
The same time period can be analysed using categories that reflect the development of an ethical conscience rather than a technological approach, highlighting from the outset how one can detect a gradual shift from a strongly anthropocentric approach towards an anthropocentric-critical one. Referring to the same nomenclature with which the different approaches have been indicated, three major currents of architecture can be traced: the well-being of the individual, his health and, finally, his survival in the environment in the long-term.
1.3.1. Bioclimatic architecture
The environmental crisis of our metropolitan areas makes us reflect on the need to redefine the role of the anthropic system in relation to the natural system on which it stands. The bioclimatic discipline constitutes a starting point. In the 1970s, architecture began to take its first steps towards the interpretation of the context within which every building takes shape. The form, in its geometrical and material sense, affects the energy efficiency of a building in its interaction with the environment. The external microclimate communicates with the internal microclimate through passive/active/hybrid building frontiers, and the design of the envelope, considered as a moment of exchange between the building and the external environment, becomes the focal point of bioclimatic architecture. It must, however, be underlined that the envelope is intended as a decisive element for determining the conditions of well-being of those inside the building rather than those outside it. As said, it is an approach, that is strongly anthropocentric. In fact, the cornerstone of bioclimatic architecture is the well-being of the individual-user, influenced by many factors: activity, age, gender, clothing and aspects of the internal microclimate, such as the temperature of the air and surfaces, irradiation, humidity and air movements (Olgyay, 1963).
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1.3.2. Green Building
In the 1980s, when the World Health Organization reported that one third of the buildings in the world had problems with the quality of air inside them, the international debate shifted the investigation from the built object to the effects on the person living in it. In this way, the theme of health forced its way into the debate with the diffusion of the so-called “sick building syndrome”, a topic previously unknown. The harm to humans caused by outdated air conditioning systems and highly polluting materials, generated alarm with respect to the criteria for building design. For example, the Chernobyl accident in 1986 revealed for the first time how an environmental catastrophe could cause significant damage even at great distances. For example, 500 solar houses built in Piedmont with a particularly advanced approach from the point of view of the healthiness of the environment had to have their air quality constantly checked to make sure that the consequences of the Chernobyl disaster had no impact on the control parameters (Pagani et al., 2015).
In this context, “green building” emerged. This is a term that focuses attention on a design that respects the health of its users through the use of materials, procedures and building methods that have a natural origin and low environmental impact. Basically, all construction must aim at balancing the needs of eco-sustainability and biocompatibility, making it possible to obtain consistent prescriptive manuals and to identify technologies that are less aggressive towards man and the environment.
1.3.3. Eco-sustainable architecture
The theme of environmental impact emerged in the 1990s, when numerous conferences and international meetings took place. The most famous was in Rio in 1992, which seems to mark a transition towards a greater and more mature environmental awareness, even though the statements of principle were followed by a failure to translate
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these into real actions. For the first time, the building sector also seemed to be a problematic factor from an environmental point of view. In fact, in Europe, the residential and tertiary sector makes up 40% of the energy balance. This awareness, together with the appearance of the term eco-friendly, led to a new idea of architectural quality. No longer was it a mere parameter of the formal characterization of the building, but an index of the improvement of the production process, which goes from a selection of materials based on their ecological footprint to a strategic planning of their life cycle and disposal. In this perspective, the eco-friendly architectural design not only responds to the complex needs of the user, but has the obligation to promote sustainable development in relation to all three major areas of reference: economic, environmental and social. In this way, when energy finds a complement in procedures and materials, the architectural design goes from being a local phenomenon to a global one. It goes from an anthropocentric to a biocentric approach: it is no longer just the immediate well-being of man that is at stake, but the guarantee that the positive conditions that guarantee his existence will be maintained unchanged.
Recent history has seen a multiplication of positions on sustainability, with very different approaches. Sustainable architecture has become a trend, sometimes a brand. Today, the concept of sustainability is the latest evolution of an environmental management that in many respects is seen as a stepping stone to a new type of market that produces new jobs. Given that it does not force us to change the anthropocentric foundations of Western culture but hinges on the same principles of our civilization, the path of sustainability is not only the only one not to be hampered by powerful global economic lobbies, but it is also a possible path towards the reconciliation between anthropocentrism and biocentrism. All this implies an integrated design approach that has as a goal a building product that is pleasant, durable, functional, accessible, comfortable and healthy, efficient in its consumption of natural and energy resources, respectful of the surrounding environment and local culture, and competitive in terms of management and maintenance costs. In this way, architecture strives to have a systematic vision, the widest possible, that deals with the problem of built objects as a whole, examining the “function-man-nature” relationship and considering the buildings not only as shelters but as a sustenance of life.
Sustainability, which has been under debate in the last decades, can thus be interpreted as an aspect of a new way of designing that is based on both complex logic and on ecological
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practices that foresee new dictates for subsequent constructions: materials with a low environmental impact that are eco-friendly and biocompatible and efficient designs capable of reducing the use of materials or energy, all comprehensibly linked to an ever-wider ecological concept. But, on closer reflection, are the ecological actions of sustainability not performed extremely well by living organisms?
The possibility of “learning from nature” is, in fact, at the basis of the very concept of biomimetics, but its roots go much further and have been present in the history of architecture since the creation of vernacular artefacts.
1.4. Towards Biomimetics
During a trip to Japan in the 90s, the visiting Italian delegation was asked by the construction companies of the Rising Sun for their opinion on the vertical cities that these companies were designing.
Vertical cities must solve, in highly sophisticated forms, the unresolved environmental issues deriving from horizontal cities: minimize the emission of pollutants into the atmosphere; minimize water consumption; maximize natural light for all interior spaces, through design solutions or through solar radiation conveyance technology; optimize the control and management of systems; maximize the use of easily maintainable materials and components that can be easily recycled as products or components, in order to avoid disposal that carries environmental risks. These are just some of the challenges faced by vertical cities.
“Architecture has always been inspired by nature and has always copied from it. When it
stopped doing so, it took some major false steps. The animal world has been copied in many architectural forms and in an attempt to achieve perfection in some of its materials. Geometry exists in nature. We have only studied it. The forms of nature always optimize
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the relations between the internal environment, that has to be protected, and the aggressive external environment.”4
The S/V ratio, i.e. the envelope surface in relation to the confined volume, is always optimized with respect to climate and functions. For example, the hexagon of the honeycombs optimizes the capacity and the maintenance of heat. Beehive-like buildings can be criticised from a social-environmental point of view, but they are certainly energy efficient.
Today more than ever, the increase in the consumption of electricity for air conditioning in summer is likely to see our countries’ efforts to contain and rationalize energy thwarted. Although efforts have been made to comply with the Kyoto protocols, the consumption of electricity in summer continues to increase due to new demands for domestic air conditioning.
Resorting to using natural processes does not always require a profound rethinking of our construction models. In order to exploit new or re-interpreted forms, materials and technological configurations, it is necessary that designers, construction companies and public administrators are given appropriate training.
Minimizing the use of systems that use energy from fossil fuels brings advantages of an economic, environmental and physiological nature. We can see this in our ancient buildings, where the external walls are very thick, with an ideal microclimate both in summer and in winter due to the strong thermal inertia that they have. The dome, a typical structure of insects such as termites, has a bioclimatic profile that is valid for a hot and dry climate.
How much can we learn from the natural world? There exist huge and interesting spaces for studying nature, behaviours, ways of using materials and tools, no doubt different from ours, which may have repercussions on technology and on the way we design. Biomimetics is something more than the emulation of natural processes and materials that simulate behaviour. The fundamental process of natural and biological evolution is to learn from mistakes, and it is through this process of continuous learning that we are able to bring about innovations in every sector.
4 R. Pagani - G. Chiesa - M. Tulliani, Biomimetica e Architettura. Come la natura domina la tecnologia,
Franco Angeli, Milan, 2015, ch. 1.
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2
Biomimetics
“I’m not trying to imitate nature, I’m trying to find the pencil she’s using.”
(Buckminster Fuller)
Throughout the history of humanity, nature has represented an important reference and model of inspiration, leading to the birth of numerous technical and expressive works. Man has learned to be more conscious and more attentive to the infinite perfection of nature, to its interminable lessons.
Today the biomimetic approach is seen as the discipline that studies natural biological processes to find sustainable solutions to man’s technological and design problems. Acting within the rules of nature and adopting this method, man will improve his environment and his products in terms of efficiency, sustainability and beauty.
To achieve this goal, there is the need to apply this approach in all fields, starting also from very specific innovations and solutions. The diffusion of the method and its introduction into everyday work will slowly lead to real change.
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2.1. Origins and definitions
The term biomimetic originates from the union of the Greek words bios, life, and mimesis, imitation, and can be defined as “the imitation of models, systems and elements
of nature in order to solve complex human problems.5”.The term Biomimetics was
introduced for the first time in 1969 (Bar Cohen, 2006) by Otto H. Schmitt in the title of a paper presented at the third international biophysical science convention held in Boston. Schmitt considered that the neologism that he had coined could clarify the various visions that were emerging around research into the conscious engineering of biological solutions to solve human needs. Schmitt himself, however, had already used the term in the Dayton Symposium on Bionics in 1962 to try to define the type of research he pursued more coherently.
In fact, the then nascent field of bionics was rather vast and covered a wide spectrum of activities and disciplinary fields. The term “bionics” was developed by the doctor of the US Air Force, Jack E. Steele, and was made public in 1960. He defined it as “the science
of systems which have some function copied from nature, or which represent characteristics of natural systems or their analogues”6 The American architect Victor Papanek pauses to point out its benefit, defining bionics as:
“the use of biological prototypes for the design of man-made synthetic systems. To put it
in simpler language: to study basic principles in nature and emerge with applications of principles and processes to the needs of mankind”7.
The same term, bionics, made up of the words life and technology, generally indicates a process that translates the characteristics of biological systems into technological processes with no specification regarding a methodology, a field of use or the end of the process.
Thanks also to the wide margin of flexibility that the discipline promised, many of the scientists who moved between the fields of engineering and biology were first drawn to
5 J. F. Vincent et al., Biomimetics: its practice and theory, The Journal of Royal Society, 2006.
6 J.F.V Vincent quote. in: C. Langella, “Hybrid design- Progettare tra tecnologia e natura”, Franco Angeli,
Milan, 2007.
7 V. Papanek, Design for the real world: human ecology and social change, Thames and Hudson, London,
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bionics and later biomimetics. In fact, over time, bionics has taken on a well-defined identity, becoming compartmentalised and mainly oriented towards design in the sector of artificial fabrics and robotics, in particular in the field of medicine.
The term biomimicry was coined in the United States. In 1997 the biologist Janine Benyus published the book entitled “Biomimicry; innovation inspired by nature”, in which she defines this discipline as “the conscious emulation of the genius of life”. Within this work, biomimetics is described by the author according to three criteria:
• Nature as a model: biomimetics is a new science that studies the model of nature
and imitates it or draws inspiration from it to solve human problems;
• Nature as a measure: biomimetics uses an ecological standard to judge the
quality of its innovations;
• Nature as a mentor: biomimetics is a new way of seeing and evaluating nature.
It introduces us to a new era no longer based on what we can extract from nature, but on what we can learn from it.
Compared to biomimetics, coined by Otto H. Schmitt, biomimicry is “interpreted in a
less engineering sense. It involves the world of artefacts on a larger scale, as a source of biological strategies particularly oriented to environmental sustainability, and correlates to theories of industrial ecology”.8
This difference is part of the diversity that exists between biologically imitated and biologically inspired technologies. The bio-imitated solutions are characterized by processes, products and shapes directly transferred from the natural world to the artificial world, maintaining the main features and functions of the originals found in nature, such as buttonhole and hooks fasteners. Bio-inspired solutions, on the other hand, include processes, products and forms engineered using specific characteristics of the artificial world starting from a natural inspiration. For example, airplanes are bio-inspired by the flight of birds, but are engineered in a totally different way. In fact, they do not move the wings and can fly through turbulence. However, the distinction between the two terms can be blurred, at least in some cases, according to the approach chosen and the reasoning behind it.
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“Regarding future scenarios, the most promising research areas for the development of biomimetics are the study of new materials, which borrow at the micrometric and nanometric level the logics and principles derived from molecular biology; Micro-Electro Mechanical technologies(MEM), the economic or environmental management systems based on intelligent ICT (Information and Communication Technology) networks that imitate the mechanisms of neuronal growth; biometric computing systems used to understand and model biological characters such as protein DNA structure or the functioning of the human brain and the nervous system.”9
The following table shows the numerous definitions of the biomimetic and bionic terms that we find in literature. The attempt is to clarify an apparently simple phrase: “learn
from nature”.
Table 1 Biomimetic and bionic definitions from literature.
Autore Definizione Anno
J. E. Steele
“It [bionics] explores systems whose functions are modeled on
natural systems, or whose properties resemble those of natural systems, or are analogous
to them.”
1958–60
J. E. Steele
“[the] science of systems that work like or in the same manner as or in a similar manner to living
systems”
1958–60
L. P. Kraismer
“Bionics is thus the science that investigates biological processes and methods with the goal of
applying the results to the improvement of older and the creation of newer machines and
1967
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systems. One could also say that it is the science of systems demonstrating features similar to
those of living organisms.”
H. Heynert
“With respect to the present state of development, bionics can be
viewed as one of the applied disciplines in the biological sciences with a tendency to integration induced by its objectives, which has as its content the systematic study of
life forms for the solution of technical, technological, and architectonic problems; whereby structures and processes serve in their functional relationship in the
systems of organisms as a stimulus and pattern, particularly
as models for constructions and processes in the various branches
of industry and engineering.”
1976
E. Forth & E. Schewitzer
“Bionics: scientific field of integration, with a technically
driven problem focus of heterogeneous scientific disciplines. Their scientific matter
is characterized by findings that are acquired from biological objects, that embody principles superior to previous technology,
and that can lead to a technical utilisation; thus / therefore it
brings together various disciplines for the solution of
specific technical tasks of a varying nature and changing priorities and taps into new types
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of technical problem-solving approaches.
A. I. Berg
“The task of bionics is to investigate biological objects with
the goal of modernizing present technical systems or creating new
and more accomplished ones and using the results.”
1976
E. W. Zerbst
“In general, bionics can be described by three different groups of definition: (1) It is a
science for the planning and constructing of systems whose
functions emulate those of biological systems. (2) It is a
science for the planning and constructing of systems exhibiting characteristic features
of biological systems. (3) It is a science for the planning and constructing of organisational
structures that emulate the interrelations of patterns of
biological organisation.”
1987
VDI-TZ
“Bionics as a scientific discipline looks systematically at the
technical conversion and application of constructions,
processes, and principles of development in biological
systems.”
1993
W. Nachtigall
“Bionics also includes aspects of the interplay of animate and inanimate parts and systems as
well as the scientifictechnical employment of biological
organisation criteria.”
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T. Rossmann & C. Tropea “Bionics = learning from nature
to improve technology” 2005
J. F. V. Vincent
“Biomimetics (which we here mean to be synonymous with ‘biomimesis,’ ‘biomimicry,’
‘bionics,’ ‘biognosis,’ ‘biologically inspired design,’ and similar words and phrases implying copying or adaptation or
derivation from biology) is thus a relatively young study embracing the practical use of mechanisms
and functions of biological science in engineering, design,
chemistry, electronics, and so on.”
2006
Y. Bar-Cohen
“Bionics as the term for the field of study involving copying, imitating, and learning from biology ... Biomimetics … [the]
term itself is derived from bios, meaning life, and mimesis, meaning to imitate. This new science represents the study and
imitation of nature’s methods, designs, and processes. While some of its basic configurations and designs can be copied, many ideas from nature are best adapted
when they serve as inspiration for human-made capabilities.
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2.1.1. Other bio-approaches
It is opportune to introduce a brief description of some other terms that laterally affect the biomimetic landscape:
• bio-inspiration, which implies a more generic vision. The bio-inspired design is
a form of design that looks at nature at any degree of abstraction and does not present a structured method either for the selection of models or for their technological translation;
• biomorphism, which is characterized by the reproduction of natural organisms or
parts of them. Although it may seem similar, at least from the theoretical point of view, to what has been called shallow biomimicry, biomorphism generally indicates the reproduction of natural forms also for their symbolic or aesthetic value, but not necessarily for a functional one;
• biotechnology, which more specifically refers to the engineering of technologies
related to the field of bio-chemistry and genetic modification;
• biomechanics, which does not engineer the functioning of natural organisms but,
vice versa, applies the laws of mechanics to the study of natural organisms. Although all these fields clearly have similarities and margins of overlap, this does not mean that they share processes and methods, or even the same ecological objectives and aims of sustainability. It is therefore necessary to understand which are the specific methodologies and what possibilities of standardization there are for a process that regards a world as vast as the biological one.
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2.2. The three main strands of development in biomimetics
Up to now, biomimetic development can be represented by three main strands: • Functional morphology;
• Processing of signals and information; • Molecular organization and nanotechnology.
The first but also the oldest of these three strands of development focuses on the relationship between forms and functions. The pre-scientific observations of nature served as a stimulus for the development of technical solutions. Among the most successful innovations present in this vein include parachutes; the wing of' a plane that create lift; the aerodynamic shape and the Velcro fastener.
When nature was observed macroscopically, the technical implementations were able to simulate the natural principles since the desired function was closely related to the form and less to the material. The task carried out by the wing of an airplane, for example, largely depends on its shape and not on the material with which it is built.
As the research moves more deeply into the relationship between structure and form, from the macroscopic to the microscopic, more problems of technical implementation or problems of production arise. For this reason, the quality of construction is decisive for the desired functionality and therefore for the success of the innovation. If we take, for example, products on the market today that try to technically recreate the surface of the lotus leaf and examine them closely with an electron scanning microscope, it is clear that the technically created surface is still a long way from the natural one. This is equally true for biological materials that are structured hierarchically, such as bone, teeth, mother-of-pearl and spider silk, which are increasingly becoming the focus of biomimetic research. A fundamental change in our production system is inevitable for manufacturing such materials or products.
The solution for the production of hierarchically structured materials can be a process of self-organization, which means learning not only from the biological form, but also from the process of their formation, that is to say, biological development or growth processes. If this were to succeed, it would open the door to further so-called intelligent materials.
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While the first and oldest strand of biomimetic development depends on the relationship between form and function, the cybernetic control cycle is a characteristic of the second strand. In contrast to the first morphological-functional strand, with the development from biology to technical biomimetics, this second strand represents a different development logic. The approaches and fundamental models of biocybernetics were initially developed in technical areas far from biology, such as electrical engineering. Significant progress has been achieved, in particular in biocommunication, in the physiology of sensors, in neurophysiology and even in brain research. This progress has positively influenced developments (not just biomimetic) in sensor technology, in information processing and robotics. With the help of these biomimetic approaches, some of the limitations present in the processing areas of signals and information have been overcome.
The third and most recent strand of biomimetics is found at the molecular and nanomolecular level. Biomimetic developments are about to reach a turning point: nano-biomimetics focuses on the processes of molecular self-organization and on the development of molecules, cells and tissues, including their reconfiguration. The principles of' molecular self-organization, for example, controlled crystallisation and other nanotechnology, will make the production of surface textures, such as those based on the lotus leaf pattern, possible.
Currently and for the foreseeable future, strong dynamics between the three strands will likely be created, both in terms of research and the possibility for implementation. In particular, the strands of form development and function seem to merge with that of nano-biomimetics. Only through the technical possibilities offered by the third strand does a vast production and technical implementation become possible. The following example will clarify this. To produce a nanostructured surface based on the lotus leaf, it is necessary to solve the problems in the technical production of the hierarchically structured surface, but also to address the significant problems that exist or that would exist with the maintenance of this structure during the life of a product. Only when scientists are able to imitate the biological model and its capacity for growth and self-repair will they be able to properly solve these problems. Therefore, it would seem that in the biomimetic community, the characteristic of autonomous growth of complex structures will further evolve into a guiding principle for the development of a biomimetic for the future.
