Biomimicry

Sagrada Familia

Antonio Gaudi once said "To be original...is to return to the origin..." meaning to return to origin of life, creation in nature. Sagrada Familia (a large Roman Catholic Church) is an extraordinary example of Gaudi's pursuit in designing from nature. Construction began in 1882 and this magnificent structure is slated to finish construction in 2026, 100 years after it began!

Gaudi drew inspirations from forest canopy where he intended to create a forest that invites prayer. Furthermore, tree-like columns branch off near the roof for support, structure he borrowed from studying the Oleander plant and its stem where each "stem" terminates in between skylights containing green and gold glass to reflect light.

Gherkin Tower

This tall office tower stands 200 meters tall, cladded in 24,000 sq.m. of triangular glass panels.

Taking inspiration from the deep sea Venus' Flower Basket sponge and its efficiency in filtering water and nutrients inspired designers of the Gherkin. Gaps in each floor of the building create shafts that sandwich air between the two layers of spiraling glass that encase the building which keeps the Gherkin insulated.

BIQ Building

Germany's "algae house" or BIQ building incorporates living matter or microalgae into its design. It is the world's first example of a "bioreactor facade" meaning, algae that is produced within the transparent shell are continuously supplied with nutriends and carbon dioxide by a water circuit that runs trough the building's facade.

The algae also reacts with the sun, where in the winter where there is hardly any light in Hamburg for long periods of time, the algae will not naturally propagate and therefore the facade screens become very transparent so that more light can come through into the inside.

When algae have overgrown, they can be harvested and used to make biogas (a renewable energy source made from raw materials) to supply the rest of the building.

Pneumatic Facade Technology

This building breathes through thousands of pores that is inspired by organic skins that adjust to permeability to control the necessary flow of light, matter and temperature between the inside and the outside. The constantly changing appearance of these 'breathing" pores creates a rich interplay of interior living spaces and exterior natural environments.

The pores increase and decrease in the size of the apertures much like our skin's pores, how they expand and contract on every square meter of this facade, there are 140 air channels which Becker describes as "pneumatic muscles".

Taichung Metropolitan Opera House

Drawing inspiration from the formation of rocks, caves and the transience of water while using computational tools to sculpt the building and fabricate in factories that are normally done on site on a larger scale were highlights of this building.

The main structure is formed of several curved walls connected with inlaid floors and a core service wall. Inside, there are cavernous and sculpted volumes, inspired by caves in nature.

The Eden Project: The Biomes

With 1.956 million visitors in the first year of opening, the "biomes" at the Eden Project is one of the top attractions in the UK. This place houses the largest rainforest in captivity, stunning plants, exhibitions and stories that serve as a backdrop to the contemporary gardens, summer concerts and other events.

These rainforests live inside "biomes" which are placed in a sequence of 8 inter-linked geodesic transparent domes covering 2.2 hecatres, encapsulating vast humid tropic and warm temperate regions.
The biomes are structurally made of hex-tri-hex space frames that rely on 2 layers with the components made up of steel tubes and joints that are light and relatively small to be easily transportable. The cladding panel material are triple layered pillows of high performance ETFE foil.