Built to Grow – Blending architecture and biology

Built to Grow – Blending architecture and biology
Author: Barbara Imhof
Publisher: Birkhäuser
Total Pages: 184
Release: 2016-01-15
Genre: Architecture
ISBN: 3035607478

Das Werk ist das Ergebnis der Erforschung unterschiedlicher Wege des Experimentierens mit Biologie und Architektur auf dem neuen Feld der "lebenden Architektur". Es untersucht architektonische Visionen selbstwachsender Häuser mit Blick auf Wachstumsmuster und Dynamiken in der Natur, um sie auf Zukunftsszenarien anzuwenden. Dazu werden Ideen und Konzepte gewachsener Strukturen präsentiert, welche ein interdisziplinäres Team aus den Bereichen Architektur, Kunst, Biologie, Robotik und Mechatronik entwickelt hat. Der Hauptteil des Buches dokumentiert die künstlerischer Forschungsarbeit von mehr als zwei Jahren. Sie schließt Experimente im Labor mit biologischen Vorbildern wie den wegefindenden Schleimpilz und Myzeliumstrukturen ebenso ein wie Untersuchungen metabolischer Systeme um einen neuartigen beweglichen 3D-Drucker. Die von Begrifflichkeiten wie ‚Agency', emergente Systeme oder Resilienz und die Diskussion über die immanenten Werte und ethischen Aspekte dieser Forschung reflektieren die Arbeit an "lebender Architektur innerhalb unserer sich verändernden Welt und lassen so gesamtheitliche Zusammenhänge erkennen.

Plant Biomechanics

Plant Biomechanics
Author: Anja Geitmann
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 436
Release: 2018-06-09
Genre: Science
ISBN: 3319790994

This book provides important insights into the operating principles of plants by highlighting the relationship between structure and function. It describes the quantitative determination of structural and mechanical parameters, such as the material properties of a tissue, in correlation with specific features, such as the ability of the tissue to conduct water or withstand bending forces, which will allow advanced analysis in plant biomechanics. This knowledge enables researchers to understand the developmental changes that occur in plant organs over their life span and under the influence of environmental factors. The authors provide an overview of the state of the art of plant structure and function and how they relate to the mechanical behavior of the organism, such as the ability of plants to grow against the gravity vector or to withstand the forces of wind. They also show the sophisticated strategies employed by plants to effect organ movement and morphogenesis in the absence of muscles or cellular migration. As such, this book not only appeals to scientists currently working in plant sciences and biophysics, but also inspires future generations to pursue their own research in this area.

Biomimetic Research for Architecture and Building Construction

Biomimetic Research for Architecture and Building Construction
Author: Jan Knippers
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 408
Release: 2016-12-19
Genre: Science
ISBN: 3319463748

This book comprises a first survey of the Collaborative Research Center SFB-TRR 141 ‘Biological Design and Integrative Structures – Analysis, Simulation and Implementation in Architecture’, funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft since October 2014. The SFB-TRR 141 provides a collaborative framework for architects and engineers from the University of Stuttgart, biologists and physicists from the University of Freiburg and geoscientists and evolutionary biologists from the University of Tübingen. The programm is conceptualized as a dialogue between the disciplines and is based on the belief that that biomimetic research has the potential to lead everyone involved to new findings far beyond his individual reach. During the last few decades, computational methods have been introduced into all fields of science and technology. In architecture, they enable the geometric differentiation of building components and allow the fabrication of porous or fibre-based materials with locally adjusted physical and chemical properties. Recent developments in simulation technologies focus on multi-scale models and the interplay of mechanical phenomena at various hierarchical levels. In the natural sciences, a multitude of quantitative methods covering diverse hierarchical levels have been introduced. These advances in computational methods have opened a new era in biomimetics: local differentiation at various scales, the main feature of natural constructions, can for the first time not only be analysed, but to a certain extent also be transferred to building construction. Computational methodologies enable the direct exchange of information between fields of science that, until now, have been widely separated. As a result they lead to a new approach to biomimetic research, which, hopefully, contributes to a more sustainable development in architecture and building construction.

Active Materials

Active Materials
Author: Peter Fratzl
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
Total Pages: 521
Release: 2021-12-20
Genre: Science
ISBN: 3110562200

What are active materials? This book aims to introduce and redefine conceptions of matter by considering materials as entities that ‘sense’ and respond to their environment. By examining the modeling of, the experiments on, and the construction of these materials, and by developing a theory of their structure, their collective activity, and their functionality, this volume identifies and develops a novel scientific approach to active materials. Moreover, essays on the history and philosophy of metallurgy, chemistry, biology, and materials science provide these various approaches to active materials with a historical and cultural context. The interviews with experts from the natural sciences included in this volume develop new understandings of ‘active matter’ and active materials in relation to a range of research objects and from the perspective of different scientific disciplines, including biology, physics, chemistry, and materials science. These insights are complemented by contributions on the activity of matter and materials from the humanities and the design field. Discusses the mechanisms of active materials and their various conceptualizations in materials science. Redefines conceptions of active materials through interviews with experts from the natural sciences. Contextualizes, historizes, and reflects on different notions of matter/materials and activity through contributions from the humanities. A highly interdisciplinary approach to a cutting-edge research topic, with contributions from both the sciences and the humanities.

The Routledge Companion to Ecological Design Thinking

The Routledge Companion to Ecological Design Thinking
Author: Mitra Kanaani
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages: 836
Release: 2022-08-31
Genre: Architecture
ISBN: 1000629317

This companion investigates the ways in which designers, architects, and planners address ecology through the built environment by integrating ecological ideas and ecological thinking into discussions of urbanism, society, culture, and design. Exploring the innovation of materials, habitats, landscapes, and infrastructures, it furthers novel ecotopian ideas and ways of living, including human-made settings on water, in outer space, and in extreme environments and climatic conditions. Chapters of this extensive collection on ecotopian design are grouped under five different ecological perspectives: design manifestos and ecological theories, anthropocentric transformative design concepts, design connectivity, climatic design, and social design. Contributors provide plausible, sustainable design ideas that promote resiliency, health, and well-being for all living things, while taking our changing lifestyles into consideration. This volume encourages creative thinking in the face of ongoing environmental damage, with a view to making design decisions in the interest of the planet and its inhabitants. With contributions from over 79 expert practitioners, educators, scientists, researchers, and theoreticians, as well as planners, architects, and engineers from the U.S., Canada, Europe, and Asia, this book engages theory, history, technology, engineering, and science, as well as the human aspects of ecotopian design thinking and its implications for the outlook of the planet.

Emergence and Modularity in Life Sciences

Emergence and Modularity in Life Sciences
Author: Lars H. Wegner
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 279
Release: 2019-02-12
Genre: Science
ISBN: 3030061280

This book focuses on modules and emergence with self-organization in the life sciences. As Aristotle observed so long ago, the whole is more than the sum of its parts. However, contemporary science is dominated by reductionist concepts and tends to neglect the non-reproducible features of complex systems, which emerge from the interaction of the smaller units they are composed of. The book is divided into three major parts; the essays in part A highlight the conceptual basis of emergence, linking it to the philosophy of science, systems biology and sustainability. This is subsequently exemplified in part B by applying the concept of emergence to various biological disciplines, such as genetics, developmental biology, neurobiology, plant physiology and ecology. New aspects of emergence come into play when biology meets the technical sciences, as revealed in a chapter on bionics. In turn, part C adopts a broader view, revealing how the organization of life follows a hierarchical order in terms of scalar dimensions, ranging from the molecular level to the entire biosphere. The idea that life is primarily and exclusively shaped by processes at the molecular level (and, in particular, by the information encoded in the genome) is refuted; rather, there is no hierarchy with respect to the level of causation in the cross-talk between the levels. In the last two chapters, the evolutionary trend toward ever-increasing complexity in living systems is interpreted in terms of the Gaia hypothesis sensu Lovelock: the entire biosphere is viewed as a functional unit (or ‘holobiont-like system’) organized to develop and sustain life on Earth.

Advances in Applied Microbiology

Advances in Applied Microbiology
Author: Geoffrey M. Gadd
Publisher: Elsevier
Total Pages: 160
Release: 2023-04-19
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0443192715

Advances in Applied Microbiology, Volume 122 continues the comprehensive reach of this widely read and authoritative review source in microbiology. Users will find invaluable references and information on a variety of areas relating to the topic of microbiology. This release includes updates on BioMateriOME: to understand microbe-material interactions within sustainable, living architectures. Contains contributions from leading authorities in the field Informs and updates on the latest developments in the field of microbiology Includes discussions on the role of specific molecules in pathogen life stages, interactions, and much more

Provisional Cities

Provisional Cities
Author: Renata Tyszczuk
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 450
Release: 2017-11-02
Genre: Architecture
ISBN: 1317074041

This book considers the provisional nature of cities in relation to the Anthropocene – the proposed geological epoch of human-induced changes to the Earth system. It charts an environmental history of curfews, admonitions and alarms about dwelling on Earth. ‘Provisional cities’ are explored as exemplary sites for thinking about living in this unsettled time. Each chapter focuses on cities, settlements or proxy urbanisations, including past disaster zones, remote outposts in the present and future urban fossils. The book explores the dynamic, changing and contradictory relationship between architecture and the global environmental crisis and looks at how to re-position architectural and urban practice in relation to wider intellectual, environmental, political and cultural shifts. The book argues that these rounder and richer accounts can better equip humanity to think through questions of vulnerability, responsibility and opportunity that are presented by immense processes of planetary change. These are cautionary tales for the Anthropocene. Central to this project is the proposition that living with uncertainty requires that architecture is reframed as a provisional practice. This book would be beneficial to students and academics working in architecture, geography, planning and environmental humanities as well as professionals working to shape the future of cities.