Multifunctional integration is remedy for architecture: ecosystems

Ecosystems develop via multifunctional integration across several scales of magnitude.

Biomimicry Taxonomy

	Maintain community >
	Coordinate >
	Groups (self-organize)

Biomimetic Application Ideas

Constructing buildings Designing communities biodynamic buildings

[Collapse all sections] Summary

Excerpt

"Hensel and Menges state that a remedy to the problems with homogenized structures 'can be found in an understanding of architecture as ecology, involving dynamic and varied relations and mutual modulation between material systems, macro- and micro-environmental conditions, and individual and collective inhabitation.' They point out that 'most biological systems are articulated through higher-level multifunctional integration across at least eight scales of magnitude. This allows scale-dependent and scale-interdependent hierarchical and multiple functionality.'" (Courtesy of the Biomimicry Guild)

"The architectural tradition of the West is fundamentally characterised by substantial structures and building typologies that link tectonics with function and representation. It has been focusing on the relation between the material constituents that frame space and its direct relation to programme on the one hand, and to social formations on the other. Interior environments are largely homogenised, a preference inherited from Modernist open-plan arrangements and facilitated by vast paraphernalia of electrical and mechanical equipment. Here, Michael Hensel and Achim Menges argue for an ecological understanding of architecture that promotes the differentiation of environmental conditions through a morphological intelligence, which promises not only a new spatial paradigm for architectural design, but also a far more sustainable one that links the performance capacity of material systems with environmental modulation and the resulting provisions and opportunities for inhabitation." (Hensel and Menges 2006:60)

Bioinspired products and application ideas

Application Ideas: Constructing buildings, designing communities.

Industrial Sector(s) interested in this strategy: Construction, community planning

References

Hensel, M; Menges, A. 2006. Differentiation and performance: multi-performance architectures and modulated environments. Architectural Design. 76(2): 60-69.

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Curator of this page

kathyzarsky
Occupation: Building Consultant
Location: Austin, TX

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If architecture [and more generally the built environment] is ecology, Hensel and Menges state, then...

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