Bio-Tech of New Millennium
The reflection and reproduction of natural forms in architecture have become one of the priority goals for architects of all times. The artistic re-interpretation of natural matrix or certain fragments of the environment has served a never-fading source of inspiration for architects for millennia. For instance, the structural hierarchies of a column of the ancient Greek order or the acanthus outlines as a prototype of the Corinthian capital still continue to work within the given aesthetic canons. At different times in different countries natural motifs have become extremely inspiring specimens to imitate and simulate them. This is manifested in both the external appearance of the building as well as individual decorations of the interior.
According to most dictionaries bioarchitecture is generally understood as a branch of engineering and construction activities that are based on the use of forms, proportions and elements that exist in nature. Objects that are fairly different in their essence can fall into these principles. Besides the external appearance of the building that imitates part of the landscape or is in symbiosis with it one can fairly associate with it structures that simulate any particular natural shape, plant or another item.
On top of that, structures that were made of natural materials, that exploit most basic features and aesthetics that are close to the perception of objects in the nature will also be considered within the style. In bio-tech one can notice softer shapes and lines if compared to the prominent hi-tech technicism. Imitation and merging with the nature as an attainable ideal were repeatedly mentioned by philosophers in the Age of Enlightenment. In the 19th century Englishman Laurie Baker built houses in colonial India that were intentionally implemented within the tropical landscape and created the illusion of not man-made but rather cultivated buildings.
Several exceptionally significant members and architectural trends of the past can be called the forerunners of modern bio-architecture. At the beginning of the 20th century the world’s architecture turned from the stylized reproduction of floral and plant elements in the decorative and applied forms of Art Nouveau to the more intensive use of natural patterns and designs. When in his Park Güell he created magnificent shell columns out of the relatively intergrown trunks of man-made trees, great Antonio Gaudí was the first to consciously use the principles of the method that was later acknowledged as bionic.
It is when architectural objects do not only carry decorative elements of the nature but they bear the structure and the character of the environment. The principles of proto-bionics were developed in the 1920s by Rudolf Steiner (“Goetheanum”, 1921); and a little later F.L. Wright offered his understanding of the integrity of the internal and external appearance of the building within the natural environment (the “Organic architecture” concept). Later on bionic principles gradually became increasingly widespread in the design of buildings and structures.
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Text by MARIANNA MAEVSKAYA,
images provided by: MAD, UNStudio, Vincent Callebaut Architectures, eVolo Magazine, Coop Himmelb(l)au, Team CLS