Interweaving Architecture and Ecology - A Theoretical Perspective Or: What can architecture learn from ecological systems (original) (raw)
Related papers
For an ecological approach to architecture : perception and design
conference proceedings on Ambiance Nantes, 2003
Theme of the workshop : theory on architectural and urban ambience, reference and referenciation Several works of research that we have conducted in our laboratory (CRESSON) have aimed at understanding the ambient milieu (among which sonic and optic environment) through one's experience. These works encourage us to consider an "ecological approach to architecture" which takes into account human, sensitive and social experience in situ. This approach is useful for a qualitative design of ambient environment in a sensitive and cultural way. It aims at identifying different types of referential situations through potential « formers » (« formants » in french) that characterise them and find their origin in perceptual ordinary experience. Standing close to what implies an architectural projection of space and built form, it could modify the cognitive attitude in design relatively to ambience. This approach gives importance to potentials of perception and action that an environment can afford to users and questions the criterias on which we can do specific physical measurments on qualitative dimensions. But it also questions the aesthetic criterias that are involved by active uses and the embodiement of « references » that guide architectural thinking. In a large definition, ecology is a multidisciplinary approach to the study of living systems, their environment, and the reciprocity that has evolved between the two. It leads to distinguish physical reality from a perceptual reality. Our analysis focuses on the active relation we can have when practicising the built structures and using its environmental potentials. Walking, sitting, talking, all our practices of architecture awake and use perceived ambient factors like sound, light and heat. Although many works show links between architectural spaces and social uses and teach us some important facts, the role of ambient factors is not clearly taken into account. Many works about environment psychology tend to define criterias based on assessment (good or bad, pleasant or unpleasant, etc.) and effects on behaviors. Our approach does not aim at showing the effects of environment on judgments or behaviors (in that respect, it is not behaviorist). Rather we try to show the modalities by which the reciprocity between man and environment is experienced in different architectural forms in order to inflect projectual thinking. We are interested in following the questions :-how is perceived and structured an ambient environment, and how does it involve our action in every day life ?-how could knowledge on this issue inflect architectural and urban principles of conception and their references ?
ARCHITECTURAL RESEARCH, 2006
This research is to find the philosophical and historical base of the ecological paradigm, and explore the architectural ramification of the paradigm. To understand the effect of the paradigm shift in a historical and philosophical context, the contrasting, Descartes-Newtonian mechanical paradigm and ecological paradigm are comparatively analyzed to reveal the influence of each respective paradigm in various fields of science, such as logic, physics, bio-medical sciences, psychology, social sciences, and architecture. The affect in architectural ream is studied to find out the patterns of how the two contrasting paradigms have been materialized since the era of modern architecture and later. At the end, this paper proposes the possible ecological design process in architecture.
2nd International Conference of Biodigital Architecture & Genetics, 2014
Initially driven by the general aim to discuss the analogies between biology and architecture, this essay compares the concept of performance as it applies in these two fields. Performance is approached along with related terminology such as metabolism and function. It further evokes historical precedents of interdisciplinary research dated since the early days of modernism, mainly applied for the development of systems. Systems are recently brought into attention along with the appointment of digitally-based methods set for analysis, rule defining, dynamic simulation and composition. In reflection of the above, this essay addresses biology's influences in architecture in three main areas. These are stated as a recurring interest in structuralism, the primacy of behaviour over aesthetics and the generative aspect of design.
Ecology and Architecture: the Design of the Environment for Human Survival
Ecological problems of civilization have not lost their relevance since the twentieth century. Methods of their solution are limited to a one-sided view of the situation, which does not allow changing it radically. Consideration of the system of knowledge in the context of the transformation and the transition to a new type of network society provides an opportunity to rethink the very way of human existence, which is directly reflected in the concept of a contemporary city. Modern society is moving towards a network-based, horizontal distribution of knowledge, which is both the cause of the actualization of the environmental problems of the city and the way to solve them.
Proceedings of the 32nd Annual Conference of the Association for Computer Aided Design in Architecture (ACADIA)
The dualities of "humanity and nature," "organic and inorganic," and "artificial and synthetic" are themes that have permeated architectural discourse since the beginning of the 20th century. The interplay between nature and machine can be directly related to the 19th-century discussion of nature and industrialism that was exemplified in the works of Louis Sullivan and Frank Lloyd Wright that spawned the organic architect movement. Echoes of these dichotomous themes have been resuscitated with the introduction of computational and information processing as a fundamental part of contemporary theory and critical praxis. The ability to go beyond simplistic dualities is promised by the introduction of data-informed multivariable processes that allow for complex parametric processes that introduce a range of criteria within evaluative design frameworks. The investigations detailed herein focus on surface morphology development that are explored and evaluated for their capacity to reintegrate ideas from genetic and developmental biology into an architectural discourse that has historically been dominated by the mechanistic metaphor perpetuated throughout the modern era. Biological analogs in nature suggest that the zone of decoration plays an important role in the environmental response and climate adaptability of architecture. The building envelope represents the greatest potential energetic gain or loss, as much as 50 percent; therefore, the architectural envelope plays the most significant role in the building's energy performance. Indeed, from an environmental performance standpoint, the formal response of the envelope should tend toward complexity, as biology suggests, rather than the reduced modernist aesthetic. Information architecture coupled with environment and contextual data has the potential to return the focus of design to the rhizome, as the functional expressions of climatic performance and thermal comfort interplay within other cultural, social, and economic frameworks informing the architectural artifact. Increasing the resolution that ornament requires in terms of geometric surface articulation has a reciprocal effect on the topological relationship between surface and space: the architectural envelope can respond through geometry on the surface scale in order to more responsively interface with the natural environment. This paper responds to increasing computational opportunities in architectural design and manufacturing, first by exploring the historical trajectory of discourse on nature vs. machine in architecture, then by exploring the implications for utilizing environmental data to increase the energy performance of architecture at the building periphery, where building meets environment and creates the synthetic built ecology.
Effects of Biomimicry on Architecture
European Journal of Medicine and Natural Sciences
The sociological, psychological and physiological problems experienced by humanity, which have been exposed to dark offices, high flats and city life far from nature, have been strikingly exposed with researches. In addition, the nature-based design approaches that emerged due to the need to meet the need of humanity for nature and the desire to return to nature have taken their place among the design parameters of the new age in architecture However, concepts where biology and design come together have emerged. Biomimicry is a discipline that explores the best ideas for design processes by imitating nature. It takes all the ecological needs that users expect from architecture directly from the nature. It provides an integration model with the nature that people yearn for, and also creates a model that takes the solutions created by nature in architectural designs as an example. In this period of architectural design turning to nature, biomimicry has the feature of being a pioneer o...
IKSAD International Publishing House, 2023
The science of ecology is concerned with human-nature relations as well as the development of renewable and harmless energy sources. Especially in the 20th and 21st centuries, the damage caused to the ecosystem by human activities has made it necessary to search and research methods and ways of repairing as well as protecting the ecology. In today's world of high energy demand, the use of renewable clean energy, materials and technology is essential for the protection and restoration of the deteriorating ecosystem. In architecture, studies are carried out on ecological approaches in architectural design in order to ensure that construction activities are not against nature but in harmony with the ecosystem. Ecological approaches in architecture are addressed by different sources (design phase - production phase - use phase - post-use phase) under the main headings of resource conservation, environmental pollution control, climatic design, providing healthy conditions in interiors, structural waste management control, life cycle assessment (Tönük, 2001; Yılmaz, 2005; Williams & FAIA, 2007). In the structural sense, the concept of ecological approaches in architecture covers the size and function of the building, its relationship with the land, façade design (façade gaps and technology), material selection, and resource utilization. Ecological approaches in architecture also relate to concepts such as sustainability and smart designs and come up with concepts with different practices and scopes such as "eco-building, eco-cities, eco-tec cities, eco-design, eco village, eco campus, green ecological architecture...". In the 21st century, these design methods, which have become not only a necessity but also a trend and a marketing product, are taking their place in cities at micro and macro scales. Ecological approaches to cities and architecture have been developed by different disciplines in response to the urban problems that emerged due to the rapid construction after World War II. One of the important examples of these early studies is the work of Austrian painter and environmental activist Friedensreich Hundertwasser. The artist intensely criticized the post-World War II urbanization and construction dominated by concrete, which developed in the context of rational architecture. The artist accused rational architecture of "cutting off man's relationship with nature, of being flat and artificial". In 1958, the artist revealed his ecological vision with the "Mouldiness Manifesto Against Rationalism In Architecture" and in the following years, he manifested his thoughts on ecological architecture with his demonstrations, speeches, models, drawings and projects. Within the scope of this study, the ecology philosophy of Hundertwasser, who aims to protect ecology at every stage of his design (design - production - use - post-use) throughout his production life (1958-2000) and produces manifestos and architectural projects in this context, will be examined. Hundertwasser does not see ecological design as green integrated into the built environment. The artist produced with the vision that the built environment should be built together with the natural environment, not against it, and revealed his philosophy with his own methods and manifestos. In this study, Hundertwasser's ecological design approaches and proposals, which started with the Mouldiness Manifesto in 1958 and continued until his death, will be revealed, and the projections of his ecological philosophy in today's ecological architecture will be evaluated. The environmental vision and works of the artist, who argues that ecological architecture is a physical and psychological necessity, are inspiring for today's ecological design studies. This study will discuss the reflections of the artist's eco vision on the present day and open new horizons for future studies. The study was created by the literature review method. The main purpose of the study is to contribute to the ecological architecture literature, which is a current topic of discussion open to development, by reading the eco-philosophy of Hundertwasser, an eco-activist. The discussion within the scope of the research is important in today's world where ecological problems are increasing rapidly, yet solution proposals remain singular. In the first part of the study, Hundertwasser's ecological philosophy and ecological architectural approaches will be revealed by reading his manifestos, speeches, drawings and projects. In the second part, the reflections of the artist's philosophy in today's ecological architecture will be analyzed. Finally, the micro- and macro-scale architectural approaches to the artist's ecological philosophy will be discussed and evaluated by cross-referencing them with contemporary ecological approaches.