Architecture Follows Nature ─ Biomometic Principles for Innovative Design

Biology influences design projects in many ways; the related impact is known as biomimetics or biomimicry. Investigating the animal kingdom as a source of inspiration, this book focuses on the analysis of various animal skins, translating the learned principles into the built environment. Skin is a complex organ that performs various functions; similarly, building envelopes serve multiple roles as interfaces between building inhabitants and environmental elements. The resulting architectural building coverings take into consideration dynamic local environmental conditions. The text illustrates how supporting biomimetic principles can create a more sustainable way of building and living.

Ilaria Mazzoleni is an architect and the founder of IM Studio Milano/Los Angeles. Her conceptual work has been published globally, and her built work can be found in Italy, California, and Ghana. Ilaria has gained attention in the fields of sustainable architecture and biomimicry. This has led to her being invited to participate in multiple international conferences and workshops and her written contributions are published in several international architectural magazines. Since 2005 she has been a full-time faculty member at the Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc) in Los Angeles. Her professional and academic investigation relates to sustainable architecture on all scales of design with a research focus on biomimicry, where innovation in architecture and design is inspired by the processes and functions of nature.

Collaborating with biologists and other scientists from top research institutions, her projects explore the connections between biotic and abiotic elements within eco-systems in order to develop sustainable urban planning strategies and address solutions to global climate change. An ongoing research program has centered on understanding how organisms have evolved and adapted to their environment, and applying that knowledge to design building facades. The conceptual implications arising from biomimetics and design have led to a body of work that investigates innovative material processes, forms, geometries and structural patterns.

Shauna Price is an evolutionary biologist focusing on speciation in neotropical insects. Her research examines the historical and ecological factors contributing to the high species diversity found in ants with the use of genetic tools, geological data, and morphological analyses. In addition to conducting research, Shauna has collaborated with Ilaria Mazzoleni and IM Studio MI/LA on multiple bio-inspired design projects. She contributes a strong background in ecology and evolution to these studies, with the perspective that inspiration in architecture and design can stem from organisms as small as microbes to broad ecosystem scales. In particular, symbiotic relationships—close, ongoing associations that have co-evolved between different species—inform her perspective in merging biology with design.