Biomimetics

Results announced

Winner: The Forest and the City by Harold Demetrios

Honorable Mention: Nature talk by Karolina Wally

 

Participants can still submit their entries for this theme till 31st January 2022. Check Schedule for more details.

 

‘Biomimetics’ is a theme that is part of the contest series ArchWeekly, a new brand of journal competitions inviting participants to engage in critical conversations on selected themes from several disciplines of architecture and design.

Discover the other themes and take part in multiple contests to experience the joy of writing over a range of subjects. Check out the schedule to find reward incentives and key deadlines!

 

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Biomimetics

Biomimicry is an approach to innovation that seeks sustainable solutions to human challenges by emulating natural patterns and strategies. We mimic these strategies found in nature to solve human design solutions in every field. Biomimetic architecture uses nature as its source of inspiration for its aesthetic resemblance as well as for its functional principles. The inspiration can be as simple as a form and as complex as an ecosystem. 

Humans have managed to address mimicry in architecture over years. It intersects biology and technology in buildings at many levels. 

The brief aims to open a dialogue to foster nature inspired solutions in architecture through stories, accounts or even observations.

 

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Questions

1. What is biomimetic architecture? 

Designers search for inspirations to solve their design problems. Some of these inspirations can be from nature. How does the design mimic nature? What are the philosophies and principles? How is biomimicry used in architecture? How does it imitate the ecosystem?
 

2. What are the steps to implement biomimetic architecture? 

Having a keen understanding of the topic and its principles will provide an opportunity to explore its hidden aspects. How to apply the explored knowledge to the design? How to approach biomimetics? How to explore it as an aesthetic and functional inspiration?

 

3. List and explore some examples of biomimicry in architecture?

Designers have designed various typologies of buildings by taking nature as the source of inspiration. What type of building designs are based on this concept? What are the techniques used? How are they used? What is its inspiration? 

 

4. Why is it important to learn about biomimicry?

It expands a possibility of how nature and its principles can parallelly be applied to the architectural design. How to select the source of inspiration? How to achieve sustainability through biomimicry?

 

5. What are the limitations/ restrictions in its application?

How is the research and application to design is premature? (Eg. Use of biomimicry for aesthetic purpose).

 

6. What is the future of design in biomimicry? 

For a balanced and efficient environment, nature and architecture should go hand in hand. Nature is evolving and so are its principles. What are these evolving design principles? How will technology contribute to biomimetic architecture in future?

 

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Deliverables

Participants shall deliver a written article of about 1000 - 1500 words with no more than 3 images, in a cohesive piece that answers the above questions or arguments presented. A cover of size [2000px x 1000px] must also be uploaded with the writing submission. 

The images must be copyright free or the participant must own the rights of the images used. 

 

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How to submit?

Read all the challenge rules and details from the sidebar, and hit register. You can pay the entry fee and book your registration right away. Once you are ready with your essay - begin uploading via your journal tab – and add images and text in the sequence you are asked in. Once done, go to the competitions tab and link this journal.

Check the full tutorial below on how to make the submission: 

You can also watch it fullscreen here: Upload Tutorial