Assignment 2 Tier 2 Research Paper

BENV2426 Experimental Modelling – Assignment 2 Tier 2

Research Paper – Nature and Nonlinear Systems Biology and Design

Biomimetic is the concept of interrelationship between architecture and living systems. Through the studies of both natural and nonlinear systems biology, this concept is explored through architectural systems and expresses the idea that architects are using nature, including the systems within living organisms as a way of developing complex geometry through parametric and mathematical modelling. The relationships between architecture and biology are allowing for people within these industries to work in collaboration with the ability to not only create architecture, but also develop further understandings of nature and the nonlinear systems. To discuss both of these topics and how they interrelate, I will show how both nonlinear systems biology and nature are being used by architecture as a bridge to communicate new ideas about complex mathematical geometry. “Through the investigation of organotypic biological models… parallel models work to unfold the parametric logic of these biological and responsive membrane and scaffold structures, thereby revealing their deep interior logics.” (Sabin, Jenny E.; Peter Lloyd Jones, Nonlinear Systems Biology and Design: Surface Design, 01/05/2012)

Biology as a whole encompasses both the natural world and the study of living organisms and systems. The realms of Architecture, Pathology and Nature they share the concerns of how form is generated or lost. Models from architecture have given new light upon living systems and how these are assembled and function, and models from biology have given architects complex, nonlinear geometry, which has led to new structural organisations in architectural design. These examples demonstrate how architecture and biology can be so attentive to each other, particularly because these two industries are “constantly reinventing and questioning themselves due to historic avant gardes, or in the face of new techniques.” (Sabin, Jenny E.; Peter Lloyd Jones, Nonlinear Systems Biology and Design: Surface Design, 01/05/2012) Architects have always looked to nature to design better shells and spatial structures. Cable nets are based off of spider webs in both design and with the strength to weight ratio, vaults after shells and eggs composed of hard exterior and curved materials. These complex forms of geometry are developed through mathematical modelling of the natural geometry in both objects and organisms. Nature will always be a stimulant for the development of architect’s ideas and provides them with “new potential solutions for their problematic.” (Arslan Selçuk, Semra; Gönenç Sorguç, Arzu, Exploring Complex Forms in Nature Through Mathematical Modeling: a Case on Turritella Terebra, 01/05/2012) Through the biomimetic process architects are able to mimic nature and produce models that provide natural inspiration for architect’s and the natural geometry sets an analogy between natural and architectural forms. These ideas are represented in the architectural realm today whereby a ‘thinking model’ is developed to transfer these ideas into reality. The complex geometry of natural systems is represented through the large number of parameters and variables involved in the mathematical process of modelling. Architects then need to follow steps to ensure they learn from the natural world, these being that they have to observe the realistic form and simplify it. The model created is an abstraction or simplified version of the complex form of geometry. Therefore the perceptions of nature in the architectural realm have been changing due to technological advances, and that abstracting the natural form and structures using mathematical models would be beneficial in exploring the natural realm to create new forms and structures “abstraction/ simplification of natural complex forms/structures by mathematical models would be a starting point to explore inspiring forms and/or structures”(Arslan Selçuk, Semra; Gönenç Sorguç, Arzu, Exploring Complex Forms in Nature Through Mathematical Modeling: a Case on Turritella Terebra, 01/05/2012). Through this process discussed within these sources it shows how our conceptual models are related to the physical model of nature in the real world. Not only is an understanding of nature’s form and structure developed, architects are also learning from the abstraction.

Contemporary biology shows the architect that context and dynamics count, which leads to new structures, systems, form and matter. The collaboration between biologists and architects has and will give rise to new unseen research, education, and design in both these industries. “The future of architecture and design is in genetic engineering, biotechnology and universal computing… think of a new kind of xenoarchitecture: an information labyrinth or, better still, a universal matrix that is self-generating and self-organising with its own autonomy and will to being.” (Sabin, Jenny E.; Peter Lloyd Jones, Nonlinear Systems Biology and Design: Surface Design, 01/05/2012) In the near future architects may be designing and growing buildings through the design and mutation of code, and using mathematical, physical-geometric and natural algorithms in architectural and structural design.  Examples of this being developed today include the spiral addition to the Victoria and Albert Museum’s contemporary wing, which also includes a tiled façade that follows the mathematical model of the Fibonacci Sequence forming fractal and branching figures.

Through the studies of both nonlinear biological structures and nature, architects could learn to generate form or design a building from these blueprints. These will provide architects with a new process of alternative applications in architecture. The abstract models offer approaches and methods for the design and fabrication of shell, spatial and deployable structures that are able to change the shape in alternate contexts. The first approach being the development of architectural form through sketches of forms, using properties such as colour, pattern and textures, and the other is learning from natural forms and applying this to the realm of architecture, following the behaviour and generative properties. As architects learn from nature, they open a new platform for finding complex geometry in architecture. This research in turn provides an inspiration to architects to use nature and integrate it into architecture with developing technologies, to create further interest within the topic. Similarly, our perception of nature has been changing through the impact of the developing computational technologies and tools. Basically, abstraction/simplification of natural structures and forms by mathematical models would be a starting point to explore inspiring forms. The future interaction between architects and biologists will produce models that reciprocate organic systems of architectural and biological systems. With this architecture can use the complexity and the dynamic features of living environments and organisms. With this architects will be able to move towards a more dynamic and volumetric models where surface architecture mimics that of biological structures and systems.

Bibliography

Nonlinear Systems Biology and Design

Main Article

Sabin, Jenny E.; Peter Lloyd Jones (2008) Nonlinear Systems Biology and Design: Surface Design Silicon + Skin: Biological Processes and Computation, [Proceedings of the 28th Annual Conference of the Association for Computer Aided Design in Architecture (ACADIA) / ISBN 978-0-9789463-4-0] Minneapolis 16-19 October 2008, 54-65 http://cumincad.scix.net/cgi-bin/works/Show?acadia08_054

Supporting Articles

1     Perez, Santiago R. (2006) PolyForm: Biomimetic Surfaces Synthetic Landscapes [Proceedings of the 25th Annual Conference of the Association for Computer-Aided Design in Architecture] pp. 471-482 http://cumincad.scix.net/cgibin/works/Show?acadia06_471

2     Edgerton, M.E., Neubauer, J. and Herzel, H. (2001) The Influence of Nonlinear Dynamics and the Scaling of Multidimensional Parameter Spaces in Instrumental, Vocal and Electronic Composition International Conference on Generative Art http://cumincad.scix.net/cgi-bin/works/Show?ga0119

3     Krieg, Oliver David; Dierichs, Karola; Reichert, Steffen; Schwinn, Tobias; Menges, Achim (2011) Performative Architectural Morphology: Robotically manufactured biomimetic finger-joined plate structures RESPECTING FRAGILE PLACES [29th eCAADe Conference Proceedings / ISBN 978-9-4912070-1-3], University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Architecture (Slovenia) 21-24 September 2011, pp.573-580 http://cumincad.scix.net/cgi-bin/works/Show?ecaade2011_035

4     Chalmers, Chris (2008) Chemical Signaling as a Model for Digital Process in Architecture Silicon + Skin: Biological Processes and Computation, [Proceedings of the 28th Annual Conference of the Association for Computer Aided Design in Architecture (ACADIA) / ISBN 978-0-9789463-4-0] Minneapolis 16-19 October 2008, 340-345 http://cumincad.scix.net/cgi-bin/works/Show?acadia08_340

5     Paz Gutierrez, Maria (2008) Material Bio-Intelligibility Silicon + Skin: Biological Processes and Computation, [Proceedings of the 28th Annual Conference of the Association for Computer Aided Design in Architecture (ACADIA) / ISBN 978-0-9789463-4-0] Minneapolis 16-19 October 2008, 278-285 http://cumincad.scix.net/cgi-bin/works/Show?acadia08_278

6     Ahlquist, Sean; Moritz Fleischmann (2008) Material & Space: Synthesis Strategies based on Evolutionary Developmental Biology Silicon + Skin: Biological Processes and Computation, [Proceedings of the 28th Annual Conference of the Association for Computer Aided Design in Architecture (ACADIA) / ISBN 978-0-9789463-4-0] Minneapolis 16-19 October 2008, 66-71 http://cumincad.scix.net/cgi-bin/works/Show?acadia08_066

Nature

Main Article

Arslan Selçuk, Semra; Gönenç Sorguç, Arzu (2009) Exploring Complex Forms in Nature Through Mathematical Modeling: a Case on Turritella Terebra Computation: The New Realm of Architectural Design [27th eCAADe Conference Proceedings / ISBN 978-0-9541183-8-9] Istanbul (Turkey) 16-19 September 2009, pp. 665-672 http://cumincad.scix.net/cgi-bin/works/Show?ecaade2009_164

Supporting Articles

1     Fukuda, Tomohiro; Kazuhiro Sakata; Wookhyun Yeo and Atsuko Kaga (2006) Development and      Evaluation of a Close-range View Representation Method of Natural Elements in a Real-time Simulation for Environmental Design - Shadow, Grass, and Water Surface Communicating Space(s) [24th eCAADe Conference Proceedings / ISBN 0-9541183-5-9] Volos (Greece) 6-9 September 2006, pp. 58-65 http://cumincad.scix.net/cgi-bin/works/Show?2006_058

2     He, Jie and Tsou Jin-Yeu (2001) GIS-based Visual Perception Analysis of Urban Natural Landscape for Urban Planning Supporting: A Case Study of Jinzishan Hill Region Architectural Information Management [19th eCAADe Conference Proceedings / ISBN 0-9523687-8-1] Helsinki (Finland) 29-31 August 2001, pp. 505-510 http://cumincad.scix.net/cgi-bin/works/Show?bb4f

3     Calderon, Dominguez, Emmanuel Ruffo, Hirschberg Urs (2011) Towards a Morphogenetic Control of Free-Form Surfaces for Designers Computer Aided Architectural Design Futures 2011 [Proceedings of the 14th International Conference on Computer Aided Architectural Design Futures / ISBN 9782874561429] Liege (Belgium) 4-8 July 2011, pp. 165-180. http://cumincad.scix.net/cgi-bin/works/Show?cf2011_p083

4     Mannan, Ashik Vaskor; M.Saleh Uddin (2007) Natural Behavior and Computational Logic for Optimization of Architectural Design CAADRIA 2007 [Proceedings of the 12th International Conference on Computer Aided Architectural Design Research in Asia] Nanjing (China) 19-21 April 2007 http://cumincad.scix.net/cgi-bin/works/Show?caadria2007_171

5     Perez, Santiago R. (2006) PolyForm: Biomimetic Surfaces Synthetic Landscapes [Proceedings of the 25th Annual Conference of the Association for Computer-Aided Design in Architecture] pp. 471-482 http://cumincad.scix.net/cgibin/works/Show?acadia06_471

6     Estévez, Alberto T. (2009) Biodigital Architecture Computation: The New Realm of Architectural Design [27th eCAADe Conference Proceedings / ISBN 978-0-9541183-8-9] Istanbul (Turkey) 16-19 September 2009, pp. 681-686 http://cumincad.scix.net/cgi-bin/works/Show?ecaade2009_097