Successful building design is becoming an increasingly complex task, due to a growing demand to satisfy more ambitious environmental, societal and economical performance requirements. The application of climate adaptive building shells (CABS) has recently been put forward as a promising alternative within this strive for higher levels of sustainability in the built environment. Compared to conventional facades, CABS offer potential opportunities for energy savings as well improvement of indoor environmental quality. By combining the complementary beneficial aspects of both active and passive building technologies into the building envelope, CABS can draw upon the concepts of adaptability, multi-ability and evolvability. The aim of this paper is to present a comprehensive review of research, design and development efforts in the field of CABS. Based on a structured literature review, a classification of 44 CABS is made to place the variety of concepts in context with each other, and concurrent developments. In doing so, the overall motivations, enabling technologies, and characteristic features that have contributed to the development of CABS are highlighted. Despite the positive perspectives, it was found that the concept of CABS cannot yet be considered mature. Future research needs and further challenges to be resolved are therefore identified as well.

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Climate adaptive building shells: state-of-the-art and future challenges

Biological composites have evolved elaborate hierarchical structures to achieve outstanding mechanical properties using weak but readily available building blocks. Combining the underlying design principles of such biological materials with the rich chemistry accessible in synthetic systems may enable the creation of artificial composites with unprecedented properties and functionalities. This bioinspired approach requires identification, understanding, and quantification of natural design principles and their replication in synthetic materials, taking into account the intrinsic properties of the stronger artificial building blocks and the boundary conditions of engineering applications. In this progress report, the scientific and technological questions that have to be addressed to achieve this goal are highlighted, and examples of recent research efforts to tackle them are presented. These include the local characterization of the heterogeneous architecture of biological materials, the investigation of structure-function relationships to help unveil natural design principles, and the development of synthetic processing routes that can potentially be used to implement some of these principles in synthetic materials. The importance of replicating the design principles of biological materials rather than their structure per se is highlighted, and possible directions for further progress in this fascinating, interdisciplinary field are discussed.

Towards High-Performance Bioinspired Composites

Biomimetics is a research field that is achieving particular prominence through an explosion of new discoveries in biology and engineering. The field concerns novel technologies developed through the transfer of function from biological systems. To analyze the impact of this field within engineering and related sciences, we compiled an extensive database of publications for study with network-based information analysis techniques. Criteria included publications by year and journal or conference, and subject areas judged by popular and common terms in titles. Our results reveal that this research area has expanded rapidly from less than 100 papers per year in the 1990s to several thousand papers per year in the first decade of this century. Moreover, this research is having impact across a variety of research themes, spanning robotics, computer science and bioengineering. In consequence, biomimetics is becoming a leading paradigm for the development of new technologies that will potentially lead to significant scientific, societal and economic impact in the near future.

http://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-3182/8/1/013001/pdf

The state of the art in biomimetics.

Review: A review of active structural control: challenges for engineering informatics

This paper will focus on how the emerging scientific discipline of biomimetics can bring new insights into the field of architecture. An analysis of both architectural and biological methodologies will show important aspects connecting these two. The foundation of this paper is a case study of convertible structures based on elastic plant movements.

Design and construction principles in nature and architecture

1 Introduction 2 Background 2.1 Architecture 2.2 Bionics [Bionik] Biomimetics 2.3 Transfer and methods 3 Classical approaches to investigate overlaps between biology and architecture 3.1 Relationship between nature and architecture 3.2 "Natural construction" 3.3 Nature's design principles 3.4 Parallels, differences and synergies between design in nature and in architecture 3.5 Biomimetics in construction and architecture 4 New approaches and application of biology's life criteria on architecture 4.1 Life, biology 4.2 Architectural interpretation of life criteria 4.3 Comments and hitherto unexplored fields 4.4 A living architecture 5 Case studies 5.1 Adaptation and evolution of traditional architecture on Nias Island 5.2 Transformation Architecture 5.3 Lunar Exploration Architecture 5.4 Biomimetic Design Proposals 6 Discussion 6.1 Transfer strategies and methods 6.2 Suggestions 7 Appendix 7.1 Literature 7.2 Figures and Photography

Biomimetics in Architecture: Architecture of Life and Buildings

Biomimetics in Architecture

Biomimetics is a field that has the potential to drive major technical advances. It might substantially support successful mastering of major global challenges. In the first part of the article, the current state of biomimetics is reviewed, and goals and visions of biomimetics are presented. Subsequently, possible biomimetic scenarios to overcome the major global challenges, as indicated by the Millennium Project, are envisaged. Those of the 15 challenges (sustainable development, water, population and resources, democratization, long-term perspectives, infor- mation technology, the rich-poor gap, health, capacity to decide, peace and conflict, status of women, transnational crime, energy, science and technology, and global ethics) where biomimet- ics might provide relevant contributions are considered in more detail. The year 2059 will mark the 100th anniversary of Part C of the Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, the Journal of Mechanical Engineering Science. By this time, some of these challenges will hopefully have been successfully dealt with, possibly with major contribution from biomimetics. A new Leitwissenschaft and a new type of 'biological technology' are emerging, and in biology more and more causation and natural laws are being uncovered. In order to estimate the fields of biol- ogy from which technical innovations are likely to appear, the amount of causal knowledge is estimated by comparing it with correlational knowledge in the respective fields. In some fields of biology, such as biochemistry and physiology, the amount of causal laws is high, whereas in fields such as developmental biology and ecology, we are just at the beginning. However, some- times ideas and inspirations can also stem from nature when the causations are not known. The biomimetic approach might change the research landscape and the engineering culture dramat- ically, by the blending of disciplines (interdisciplinarity). The term 'technoscience' denotes the field where science and technology are inseparably interconnected, the trend goes from papers to patents, and the scientific 'search for truth' is increasingly replaced by search for applications with a potential economic value. Although the trend in many scientific fields goes towards appli- cations for the market, a lot of disciplines will stick to the traditional picture of science. An open question left to the future is whether the one development or the other (technoscience or pure science) is an advantage for the future of humans. In the subsequent section, the article gives information about organizations active in biomimetics. It shows the relevance of biomimetics on a global scale, and gives reasons for promoting transdisciplinary learning. Increasing interdisci- plinarity calls for novel ways to educate the young. Brian Cambourne's 'Conditions of Learning' theory is recommended in this respect. This dynamic and evolving model for literacy learning comprises the concepts immersion, demonstration, engagement, expectations, responsibility, employment, approximation, and response. Each of these conditions supports both the student and the teacher in their discovery of learning, helps provide a context within which to learn,

http://www.iap.tuwien.ac.at/~GEBESHUBER/Kristallkugel.pdf

A gaze into the crystal ball:biomimetics in the year 2059

Deployable structures for a human lunar base

Engineers, designers and architects often look to nature for inspiration. The research on 'natural constructions' is aiming at innovation and the improvement of architectural quality. The introduction of life sciences terminology in the context of architecture delivers new perspectives towards innovation in architecture and design. The investigation is focused on the analogies between nature and architecture. Apart from other principles that are found in living nature, an interpretation of the so-called 'signs of life', which characterize living systems, in architecture is presented. Selected architectural projects that have applied specific characteristics of life, whether on purpose or not, will show the state of development in this field and open up future challenges. The survey will include famous built architecture as well as students' design programs, which were carried out under supervision of the author at the Department of Design and Building Construction at the Vienna University of Technology.

http://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-3182/3/2/023001/pdf

Petra Gruber

Papers

Biomimetics in Architecture: Architecture of Life and Buildings

Biomimetics in Architecture

A gaze into the crystal ball:biomimetics in the year 2059

Deployable structures for a human lunar base

The signs of life in architecture