Integrating Biology into Architecture

• Grant number: 13/06761-3
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: June 01, 2013
• End date: May 31, 2014
• Field of knowledge: Applied Social Sciences - Architecture and Town Planning - Architecture and Urbanism Project
• Principal Investigator: Anja Pratschke
• Grantee: Nayara Caroline Batista Resende
• Host Institution: Instituto de Arquitetura e Urbanismo de São Carlos (IAU). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Carlos , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The energetic and the environmental crisis that are consequence of the transformations occurred in the planet guide to the idea of how to make an architecture that does not damage the environment, but, on the opposite, that interacts with its ecological context and evolves with it. This thinking demands studies about the logic of the biological processes related to the conception of an architecture which is similar to the organization of the natural world. The use of digital media and the frequent development of parametric and generative software enable a review of design processes, inspired in biology, contributing to the creation of spaces that are more compatible with the nature's behavior and of a self-organized, adaptive and evolutionary architecture. The architect and his/her historical context, however, understand the relation between the architectural and the biological processes in different ways. The objective of this research is, ultimately, to understand the relation between architecture and biology at the current moment through the qualitative selection of architectural references, among them, Buckminster Fuller, Christopher Alexander, Frei Otto, Santiago Calatrava, Emergent architects and Lars Spuybroek. The research is linked to the Design-Lab project, along with the research group Nomads.usp, and will occur by means of bibliographic searches, the creation of a database of architectural projects with the attention focused on the design process, the familiarization with generative computer systems and exploratory experimentations.