Biomorphic

Structures:
Arc h i te c t ure I n s pi re d by Na ture

AST ER I OS AG KAT H I D I S

Published in 2017 by
Laurence King Publishing Ltd
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London EC1V 1LR
United Kingdom
email: enquiries@laurenceking.com
www.laurenceking.com

© text 2017 Asterios Agkathidis

Asterios Agkathidis has asserted his right
under the Copyright, Designs,
and Patents Act 1988 to be identified
as the author of this work.

All rights reserved. No part of this

publication may be reproduced or
transmitted in any form or by any means,
electronic or mechanical, including
photocopying, recording or any information
storage or retrieval system, without
permission from the publisher.

A catalogue record for this book

is available from the British Library

ISBN: 978 1 78067 301 1

Original concept design by & SMITH

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CONTENTS

1.0 2.0 3.0 4.0

BIOMORPHIC DESIGN WATER, EARTH AND GEOLOGICAL PLANTS AND BRANCHING ANIMAL STRUCTURES
FORMATIONS SYSTEMS AND PROPERTIES

1.1 Introduction and terminology......... 8 2.1 Hill and valley............................. 26 3.1 Branched blocks......................... 70 4.1 Gradient transparency................108
1.2 A historical review: from Art Nouveau 2.2 Influx......................................... 40 3.2 Tree-structure canopy.................. 80 4.2 Snakeskin.................................. 114
to algorithmic design.................12 2.3 Caves and erosion....................... 48 3.3 Callipod..................................... 90 4.3 Bird’s nest.................................124
1.3 The approach of this book............ 22 2.4 Liquid contours........................... 58 3.4 Rose pavilion.............................. 98 4.4 Error as optimization...................130
4.5 Dream vaults..............................142

5.0
CONCLUSION

Index................................................154
Bibliography.....................................156
Credits.............................................158
Acknowledgements...........................160
 1
BIOMORPHIC
DESIGN
 INTRODUCTION AND E. Steele and presented at a 1960 ‘Bionics Symposium’,
entitled ‘Living Prototypes – The Key to New Technology’

TERMINOLOGY (Nachtigall 2005). Aiming to inform engineering and

technology with knowledge and aspects of performance
as they have evolved in nature, bionic design can be
seen as an aspect of biomorphism. However, bionic,
or biomimetic, architecture implies not only the form-
related aspects of mimicry, but the inherent qualities of
construction as well (Gruber 2011). Gruber also points out
The concept of ‘biomorphism’ came originally from that Frei Otto’s research studies on membrane surfaces,
Goethe, although the term itself was first introduced by and Buckminster Fuller’s tessellation techniques for
the British poet and writer Geoffrey Grigson in 1935, dome geometry, were most probably the first attempts
in reference to the work of the sculptor Henry Moore to integrate bionics into architectural design. It is in the
(Kosinski 2001). Derived from the Greek words βίος (life, last ten years – by incorporating emerging technologies
living) and μορφή (form), it described a creative synthesis and tools, such as parametric, algorithmic and generative
bridging the gap between Surrealism and abstract art, design methods – that architects and engineers claim
and it has been associated ever since with fluid, organic to have moved beyond a mimicry of geometry and
shapes in art, architecture and design. In architecture in order, and into enhancing environmental, structural and
particular, the term is often used to describe forms and material performance by learning from the mechanisms
patterns inspired by nature. and properties found in nature. New terms such as
zoomorphism, geomorphism and anthropomorphism
The theory of organicism promotes harmony between have arisen in order to specify the particular source of
architecture and nature to the point where form and natural inspiration or mimicry in each case (in these instances,
context merge into one. Key proponents have included animals, geology and humans, respectively).
Figure 01: Golden ratio
Imre Makovecz (Kuhlmann 1998) and Frank Lloyd Wright, diagram
who, as Aldersey-Williams (2003) points out, took the Even though the concepts of biomorphism, organicism
Figure 02: The
approach to new heights. Even though organicism and Parthenon of Athens and bionics appeared in the twentieth century, nature has
biomorphism are related (and are often used – incorrectly
– synonymously), there are significant differences between
them. Organic architecture, as Wright himself defined it,
does not necessarily resemble natural forms, but rather
relates to materiality and integration into a natural context.

The term ‘bionics’ – combining ‘biology’ and ‘technics’,

or ‘electronics’ – was invented by US Air Force colonel Jack

8 BIOMORPHIC DESIGN INTRO DU C TI O N A ND TER M IN O LO GY 9

 always been a model for artists and architects. Looking
back to the origins of Western architecture, such as the
design of ancient Greek temples, nature has always
played an important role, not only influencing shape and
appearance, but also defining proportions and structure.
The golden ratio, for instance (figure 01) – as discovered
by the ancient Greek mathematician Pythagoras, and later
described by Vitruvius in his Ten Books of Architecture
(reprinted 1998) – is the form-giving algorithm that occurs
in spiral structures such as snail shells and flower heads,
and has been used to establish the proportions of many
man-made structures, such as the Parthenon (figure Figure 04: Corinthian In studying the golden ratio, Vitruvius developed the
capital, temple of
02). The Erechtheion, nearby on the Acropolis (figure BacChus, BaLlbek, notion of the so-called Vitruvian Man (figure 06) –
03), incorporates human-esque shapes as structural Lebanon illustrated many centuries later by Leonardo da Vinci
columns. Thus, nature, architecture, art, engineering and Figure 05: Egyptian (Feuerstein 2002) – or ideally proportioned human
capital
mathematics are at once embodied in a single work: the body, principles that Vitruvius believed also related
caryatid statue. Similar attempts to incorporate nature- to architecture. Then, in the twentieth century, Le
inspired components into architecture appear in the Corbusier’s exploration of the golden ratio and the
Figure 03: Caryatid
statues, Erechteion of capitals of the Ionian and Corinthian orders (figure 04), as proportions of the human body inspired his ‘Modulor’
Athens well as capitals dating back to ancient Egypt (figure 05) measurement system (Le Corbusier, reprinted 2000),
Figure 06: Vitruvian Man and Mesopotamia (Stevenson Smith 1999). which he applied to many of his designs, including the
Unité d’Habitation in Marseilles, and the Notre Dame du
Haut Chapel in Ronchamp.

Numerous other attempts to incorporate nature into

design and architecture have been made, dating back
to ancient times, and occurring in almost all architectural
movements, beginning with early traditional architecture
around the world, followed by such examples as Arabic
ornamentation, the architects and designers of the Art
Nouveau and Art Deco periods, the work of Antoni
Gaudí at the beginning of the twentieth century, that of
Oscar Niemeyer and Frei Otto in the 1950s and ’60s, and
continuing with the structures being built by Santiago
Calatrava and Norman Foster in the twenty-first century.

10 BIOMORPHIC DESIGN INTRO DU C TI O N A ND TER M IN O LO GY 11

 1.3 / THE APPROACH OF their starting point (Analysis), their morphogenetic
methodology (Morphogenesis) and their potential

THIS BOOK for transformation into architectural solutions

(Metamorphosis). The objective was to answer the
following questions in particular:

Which of the different approaches to biomorphic design

have been applied?

This book investigates a range of contemporary How can biomorphic design methodology be integrated
biomorphic techniques by looking at 13 case studies, into architectural education?
which demonstrate approaches and methods practised
by academic institutions and professional architects. What is the potential for design innovation offered by
Some of these case studies were developed as projects biomorphic methods?
by undergraduate students at the University of Liverpool,
carried out at Studio 04, a research-led unit run by the The case studies are presented in three chapters,
author. Studio 04 is one of five graduate-year design according to their starting point – Water, Earth and
studios at the Liverpool School of Architecture, consisting Geological Formations; Plants and Branching Systems;
of approximately 60 international students. The studio and Animal Structures and Properties – and combined
encourages the use of digital design and fabrication they offer an assessment of the approaches and
tools, as well as physical modelling and drafting possibilities of biomorphic design today, while also
techniques, and the cohort size is large enough to highlighting the potential of its application in architectural
provide representative outputs and results. education and practice.

Other case studies were developed at the Architectural

Association (AA) Visiting School – a three-week-
long design and fabrication workshop, open to
undergraduates, graduates and young professionals – or
in a PhD research framework at schools like the Bartlett,
the National Technical University (NTU) of Athens and the
Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zürich.

Continuing with the design method introduced in

Generative Design (Agkathidis 2016), these case studies
are examined in terms of three main design phases:

22 BIOMORPHIC DESIGN THE APPROACH OF THIS BOOK 23