Image: Photomish Dan | Flickr

As the relation between biomimicry, nanotechnology and new computing software evolves, a key design strategy surfaces — and a key aspect to that design strategy is BioDigital Architecture. In this branch of study and research, designers use different computer processes (algorithmic, for example) to grow architectural living systems. And these “living systems” are derived from, what Dennis Dollens describes as, metaphors of nature.

Designers can learn to understand nature in new terms, asking a different line of questions than usual. To design BioDigital Architecture, one must tap into the qualities of nature that motivate its cycles and response systems. And as you will see in the video below, Dennis Dollens lectures on exactly what that can mean for buildings.

I agree with Dollens that we can design and build better buildings by moving beyond our present-day “piece-meal” approach where separate components come together to yield a “sustainable” building. First, the window systems must coordinate with the roof system, then the roof and window systems must coordinate with the lighting systems. In the end, we wind up with separate system components which are later integrated into what we today call a “building system”.

BioDigital Architecture, on the other hand, will look toward nature for its principles. From those, designers can use computation (and other methods) to innovate systems that become much more than their parts. The totality of this livelier system might be marked by aspects of behavior, interaction and structure — where the layers that make up the system are more cyclical and responsive in nature.

It is my thinking that BioDigital Architecture will optimize the architect’s potential, leveraging our methods, talents and ideas to yield more fluid and inherently dynamic built forms. The following is Dennis Dollens’ short lecture. Please note that below the video is a link so you can take a peak at his publication which describes all of this, and more:

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© 2008-2011 Sensing Architecture by Maria Lorena Lehman

Today, the spectrum between a part and its subparts can be vast and rather static, yet already, there are prototypes for architectural systems that can adapt to triggers to self-perpetuate their own form — and blur the boundaries between where their sub-parts begin and end. Such is the character of adaptive design.

As adaptive architecture evolves, systems will become more seamless and their behaviors will stream more fluidly. The idea of nesting, fusing and embedding behaviors into a design’s systems and sub-systems will require that you consider the in-between states of your form — slowing down real-time behavioral movements and speeding up that which appears to be standing still.

Of course, if you don’t have it already, this all will require a mindset shift from you, the designer; thus, calling upon you to think of responsive architecture in terms of kinetic “fields” — playing upon “layers” or “extensions”.

For this reason, the following video presents novel concepts behind how to design “kinetic fields”, and their solutions are quite intriguing. By integrating a seamless way of having systems and sub-systems relate to one another it is possible to achieve not only behavioral motion, but also renewed behavioral functions.

Take a look at the following car concepts and you will see a great illustration of what forms this type of design thinking can take. Also, in watching the following prototypes you can see how the boundaries we typically default to today can blur — suddenly location, size and function become dynamic variables inherent within a system and its materials.

Hence, as architects, we develop a greater focus upon behavior, stemming from things like location, size and function by also adding anew the variable of time.

Please Tell Me What You Think

I would really like to get your feedback on my post today, so please leave me a comment in the form below. And if you enjoyed it, make sure you share it with your Twitter followers by “tweeting” it using the re-tweet button on this page.

© 2008-2011 Sensing Architecture by Maria Lorena Lehman

image: phoosh | Flickr

As new emerging technologies surface, the idea of “transition” will take on entirely new form. Not only will “transition” continue to exist between building materials (like you see in buildings today), but “transition” will also be present within a material’s properties — changing the very nature of how a particular material behaves at any given time.

For instance, smart materials will be able to change in real time as certain variables like temperature, light or stress trigger them. Similarly, new sensing technologies will come together to yield smart environments where ubiquitous computing is tuned to give occupants a more personalized experience.

Furthermore, as nanotechnology and biomimetic systems rise into the forefront, you as an architect will need to consistently rethink how building materials typically function — by building for them from the bottom up.

The “rules” behind designing for material behavior are changing and new smart material systems will give you a new kind of flexibility which you can optimize by taking both function and form to entirely new levels.

A key to doing this is to rethink your notion of design “transition”.

A Systems Approach to Designing with Building Materials

The biomimicry expert, Janine Benyus, says it best as she states that “The material is the system“. You see, it is within materials that we as designers can unleash new forms and functions to optimize our buildings — making them more sustainable, healthy, meaningful and beautiful.

By thinking of building materials down to the nano- scale, your design decisions as an architect will involve more of a “systems” way of thinking as opposed to the, as I have heard Janine Benyus call it, more typical “layered” approach to solving design problems.

Use “transition” as a way to unlock problems within an existing design system and as a way to capture inspiration from external forces that will trigger and react to your built environment. Think of how your occupant will experience your space, in all of its dimensions, and then ask yourself to rethink “transition” as you design.

To get you started, here are three questions to ask yourself:

1. If materials within your building’s design could “move” in real-time, how would you want them to move and why? Think aesthetics, function, efficiency, sustainability and human comfort. (As if your materials could gain “super-powers”, think beyond what materials today can do.)
2. What would be the resulting effect of such transient material “movements”? What new forms and functions would they allow? How could they help or hurt your occupant’s experience or the surrounding natural environment?
3. Is there a way to incorporate new transient materials to not only strengthen your building’s weak spots (design challenges) — but to ultimately strengthen the building as a whole (design opportunities)? What would your materials need to be able to “move” in the way you want? Think self-actuating, kinetics, weathering, interactivity, adaptation and so on.

Please Tell Me What You Think

I would really like to get your feedback on my post today, so please leave me a comment in the form below. And if you enjoyed it, make sure you share it with your Twitter followers by “tweeting” it using the re-tweet button on this page.

© 2008-2011 Sensing Architecture by Maria Lorena Lehman

Rapid manufacturing is developing beyond the ability to make “models” or “prototypes” — it is evolving into a way for designers to make a “brand” where their design actually is more of a “matrix”. Designers will be focusing progressively on a systems approach so users can “customize” their “version” of a design to their needs.

Here is a short video where Paolla Antonelli, the MoMA curator of Architecture and Design, discusses the impact of rapid manufacturing and how it will work:

MASS CUSTOMIZATION

As customer selection allows for perhaps a greater multitude of “customized versions” to meet different occupant needs over time, perhaps architecture will be better able to feed occupant senses by integrating selections from a fuller spectrum of design ideas and choices — for less money and with minimal energy.

© 2008-2011 Sensing Architecture by Maria Lorena Lehman