biomimicrychallenge2011_bioarch

8/2/2019 BiomimicryChallenge2011_BioArch

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SummaryOne third of the planet earth consists of hot and dry (arid) areas, locating mostly

in the latitude of 30 degrees from equator to the north and south. Approximately

70% of Iran is located in such climate, and subsequently, a large number of cities and

villages are situated in the extreme conditions of deserts. High temperature is

considered to be the major issue that the living creatures of desert should deal with.

For humans, therefore, a good shelter in arid areas is the one that could protectthem from the intense sunlight, provide them with moisture and ventilation as well.

However, this could mean great amount of energy consumption which is generally

of the fossil type, which in turn translates into negative impacts on the environment

and global warming. This design aims at creating an architectural form that can

improve the living conditions in arid areas, through mimicking the shell of snails that

live in desert. The advantages that the snails form provides for its inhabitant can beemployed in architecture as a solution towards providing human comfort as well as

lessening energy consumption.

The question is how nature makes life possible in hot and dry climate, where the

sunlight, extreme dryness and hot winds together contribute in making it harder. To

find the answer, we took a look at different types of creatures living in this condition.

Two general categories of living creatures could be identified in desert: one is those

living and walking on the surface such as camel, porcupine and snail; the other is


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g g , p p ;

In the following some of the characteristics of this architectural form are

demonstrated, which would result in better living conditions for its inhabitants:- Its curved shape result in the minimum surface exposing to the sunlight.- Its spiral form, shaped from duplication of a unit pattern, provides the

maximum shade on and underneath its surface.

- The depth of the shell allows the snail to mount to escape from the heatbelow.

According to this principles, some models were built up of paper ribbonscurving in a way that would make the maximum shade on another. In order to find

the best composition of the form, a number of paper models were built in different

combination of curves, which were all common in mimicking from how the shell of

the snail is organized. Then after, the conceptual designs were examined by

modeling the concept in the Ecotect Building Analysissoftware published in 2010 by

Autodesk. The weather data of the city of Yazd, one of the cities located in thecentral desert of Iran, was loaded and analyzed. The outcome shows how well the

snail-inspired form would perform in tough conditions of arid areas.

A factor that is closely attached to architecture is its construction. A design

should offer at least some practical suggestions for its construction even if it is in its

conceptual phase. In this, the designed form was thought to be built of

prefabricated components erected by dry joints which require minimum

construction utilities and alterations in the surrounding environment. These


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Art University of Isfahan, IRANRoza Atarod, Elnaz Amiri, M.amin Mohamadi, Hesam Andalib

Life in desert

BIOARCH GROUP 2011 1

BIOARCH GROUP

Biomimicry Design Challenge 2011


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About one third of the planet earth is consisted of desert areas with lack of water, high temperature insummer and cold winter. The growing population of the world and the need to live in tough conditionsemphasize on looking for a way to cope with these conditions. The question is that how to start thinkingabout l iving in desert? It can be replied with a simple question: is the human the first who want to livethere? Of course not! However, the current conditions of the universe requires seeking for more sustainableways toward making life easy in such conditions.

2BIOARCH GROUP 2011

IDENTIFY (function)


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DEFINE (context)

Iran is a country located in middle east which70% of its lands are deserts. Its population hasgrown to more than double that of the last 30years. Yet, can the country consider more than 2/3

of its land as useless areas lacking the conditions oflife? If not, how should these areas be applied?How will the life flow through its conditions? Whatdesign attitude should architects take to thinkabout making the life possible in there?

As biomimcry suggests, the human is not thefirst one thinking of making life easy at desert. In fact,there are lots of living creatures coping with theseconditions for thousand of years. Therefore, architects

can take an approach of investigating how thesecreatures survive and mimic them in the way thatarchitecture can.

BIOLOGIZE (challenge)

3BIOARCH GROUP 2011


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DISCOVER (Natural Object)

What type of life can be a good choiceto investigate?

4BIOARCH GROUP 2011

Among all these, we focused on snailbecause of its amazing form and mechanismwhich make its life possible in a quitearchitectural way, rather than using mostlybiological procedures to survive., like theother creatures


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This type of snail can live in 50C and its death point is in 55C. The overall temperature of the desert isaround 43C and the surface of the earth will reach to about 65C; to escape from this heat, the snail willstick itself to the upper part of its shell adjacent to the 43C air which can reflect nearly 95% of the sunlightand absorb only 5% of it to reach a degree of 45-50C, which is ideal for the snail to survive. Also, the gapbetween the body of the snail sticking to the shell and the top soil would let a layer of insulation made up ofair protect it from the heat of the surface.

- Its curve shape results in the minimum surface exposing to the sunlight.- Its spiral form, resulted from duplication of a unit pattern, provides the maximum shade on its surfacebeneath and itself alike- The depth of the shell allows the snail going up to escape from the heat below.

5BIOARCH GROUP 2011

ABSTRACT (Basic Principles)


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EMULATE (brainstorming)

6BIOARCH GROUP 2011

We have to look for shadow in desert. The sunlight beams make every object overheated in desert andthe best and cheapest way is to make shadow. In order to do that, the shells were formed and investigated invarious positions to reach to the most efficient shading of the form. The shells can provide shade for eachother and the whole building as well, as the spiral shell of the snail acts.


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7BIOARCH GROUP 2011

Shading analysis

The purpose of design is to makehuman comfort zone by minimizingthe solar radiation, moisturizing andventilating. As can be seen the uppergrid shows the percentage ofthermal dissatisfaction under theshells which us far less than theenvironment and the lower grid

shows the value of incident radiationof the sun under the shells which isideal for the design.

The red line in the graph shows the spaceunder the shells in a summer day. Thedotted blue line is the temperature of theenvironment. As can be seen, the designed

space is in thermal comfort zone.


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8BIOARCH GROUP 2011

EVALUATE (against life`s principles)

Use multi-functional designUse low-energy ProcessFit form to functionRecycle all materials

Break down product into beginning constituents

Use feedback loops

Embody resilience through variation, redundancy anddecentralization

Replicate strategies that worksIntegrate the unexpected

Combine modular and nested component

Sub-Principles

To reevaluate the form in accordance with the strategiessuggested by Biomimicry Institute, every sub-principle wasconsidered to see if it is already existed in the design or canbe applied in it. However, 10 of all the principles wereachieved as the characteristics of this architecture.

FINAL RENDERS


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9BIOARCH GROUP 2011

Use feedback loops

Break down product into beginning constituentsRecycle all materials

Replicate strategies that works

Integrate the unexpected

In desert architecture curvilinear geometry iscommonly applied as it has an appropriate behavioragainst the sunlight. This is not only found inarchitecture but the nature of desert applied thisgeometry as a strategy that is proved to be useful.Also, as a traditional method, building a central courtin buildings, makes a micro-climate in which thethermal conditions will be facilitated for life.

Wind is the change agent for the desert. Sand anddust are carried by the wind easily and change the formof sand hills, erode the stones and move dried plants.The scrub in desert helps us in making life possible indesert as it eases the conditions by stabilizing the sandand soil and absorbs the dust in the air besidesshading on the floor of the desert.

The suggested material for this structure is mainlyrecycled and processed wood such as particleboards or OSB Panels which are hardly compressedto satisfy structural demands. This material isgained from the nature and returns easily to it.

As illustrated in the slides number 6 and 7, we made useof feedback loops in design process by makingphysical and computational models to assess thebehavior of our architecture.


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10BIOARCH GROUP 2011

Use low-energy Process

Combine modular and nested component

Construction is a factor which is hardly attached to thearchitecture. A design has to have at least some practicalsuggestions for its construction phase even if it is in its conceptphase. Therefore, the designed form could be built with someprefabricated components erected by dry joints which requireminimum construction utilities and alterations in thesurrounding environment. These components could be madeup of recycled wood panels easily return to nature.


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Fit form to functionUse multi-functional design

In this form the space left between the shells is where the life flows. As it isshown in the section, different spaces with different requirements can be adjustedto the form. Semi-open spaces provide the possibility of making a micro-climatein which more plants can survive and help the thermal comfort achieved moreeasily, as the courts in traditional architecture did. Also, ventilation is a vital factorin designing of a building in hot and dry climate, semi-open spaces will help abetter ventilation for the building as they provide a cooler buffer zone, acting as afilter for the air entering the building.As we face with hot summer and cold winter in desert, the architecture shouldapply a multi functional attitude through design and provide the possibility ofusing spaces for different purposes. This is generally done by locating spaces nearto or far from the effect of sunlight


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By taking biology into design the resulted concept would be of its context not far from it. Taking livingcreatures such as snail as the inspirational object would lead us towards finding more sustainable solutionsand will omit the costs of nonconformance we use to pay due to living far from the nature.

Conclusion


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FINAL RENDERSSITE PLAN- This form shows a sample of what can be built by the use of this

concept. The concept can be used to create various forms to get different functionsfrom it


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FINAL RENDERS

In this view thelife under theshells is shownand semi-openspaces, i.e.terraces, areclearly shown

This view refers todifferent spacesthat could becreated by the

shape of the forminside or evenoutside of thebuilding


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FINAL RENDERS

This view showsthe spacecreated at the

center of theshells andformed apleasure micro-climate there

This view showsthe entrance ofthe building

created by theshells and showsthe plants thatcould be used tohumidify thespace in this area


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SKETCHES

Various physical models were made to see how will the concept act

Computational model were created to experiment different positions of the shells


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SKETCHES

The concept wasmodeled in EcotectBuilding Analysispublished by Autodeskin 2010 and the weather

data of Yazd city, whichis adjacent to desert,were loaded fromWeather Tools and thethermal comfort andsunlight radiation wereanalyzed. The result wassuccessful.


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SKETCHES

Various physical models were made to experience different shapes and spaces that couldbe possibly noticed by architecture

Construction of this form by the use of dry joints was experimented and it was successfullyachieved. In reality, this form could be built by the same method In larger scale

biomimicrychallenge2011_bioarch

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