The most perfect forms, both from the point of view of beauty and from the point of view of organization and functioning, were created by nature itself and developed in the process of evolution. For a long time, humanity has borrowed structures, elements, and constructions from nature to solve its technological problems. Currently, technogenic civilization is conquering ever larger territories from nature, and the surrounding areas are dominated by rectangular shapes, steel, glass and concrete, and we live in the so-called urban jungle.
And every year the human need for a natural, harmonious living environment filled with air, greenery, and natural elements becomes more and more tangible. Therefore, environmental issues are becoming increasingly relevant in urban planning and. In this article we will get acquainted with examples of bionics - an interesting modern trend in architecture and interior design.
Examples of bionics in architecture. Scientific and artistic approach
Bionics is a scientific direction first and foremost, and then a creative one. When applied to architecture, it means the use of principles and methods of organizing living organisms and the forms created by living organisms in the design and construction of buildings. The first architect working in the bionic style was A. Gaudi. His famous works The world still admires it (Casa Batllo, Casa Mila, Sagrada Familia, Park Güell, etc.).
Casa Mila Antonio Gaudi in Barcelona 
National Opera House in Beijing
Modern bionics is based on new methods using mathematical modeling and a wide range software for calculations and 3D visualization. Its main task is to study the laws of formation of tissues of living organisms, their structure, physical properties, design features with the aim of translating this knowledge into architecture. Living systems are examples of structures that operate based on the principles of ensuring optimal reliability, forming optimal shape while saving energy and materials. It is these principles that form the basis of bionics. Famous examples of bionics are presented on the site.
Sydney Opera House 
Swimming complex in Beijing
Here are some of the greatest bionics-based structures in the entire world:
- Eiffel Tower in Paris (repeats the shape of the shin bone)
- Swallow's Nest Stadium in Beijing (external metal structure repeats the shape of a bird's nest)
- Aqua skyscraper in Chicago (outwardly it resembles a stream of falling water, and the shape of the building also resembles the folded structure of calcareous deposits along the shores of the Great Lakes)
- Residential building "Nautilus" or "Shell" in Naucalpan (its design is taken from natural structure– mollusk shells)
- Sydney Opera House (imitates open lotus petals on the water)
- Swimming complex in Beijing (the facade design consists of “water bubbles”, repeats the crystal lattice, it allows you to accumulate solar energy, used for the needs of the building)
- National Opera House in Beijing (imitates a drop of water)
Bionics also includes the creation of new materials for construction, the structure of which is suggested by the laws of nature. Today, there are already many examples of bionics, each of which is distinguished by the amazing strength of its structure. This way you can get new additional features for the construction of structures of various sizes.
Cloud Gate sculpture in Chicago 
Examples of bionics in interior design
Features of interior design in the bionic style with examples
The bionic style has also come to interior design: both in residential premises and in premises of the service sector, social and cultural purposes. Examples of bionics can be seen in modern parks, libraries, shopping centers, restaurants, exhibition centers, etc. What is characteristic of this fashionable style? What are its features? As in the case of architecture, interior bionics uses natural forms in the organization of space, in the planning of premises, in the design of furniture and accessories, and in decor.
Designers draw their ideas from familiar structures of living nature:
- Wax and honeycomb– the basis for creating unusual structures in the interior: walls and partitions, furniture elements, decor, wall elements and ceiling panels, window openings etc.
- Spider web is an unusually light and economical mesh material. Often used as a basis in partition design, furniture design and lighting fixtures, hammocks.
- External or internal staircases can be made in the form of spiral or unusual structures created from combined natural materials that repeat smooth natural forms. In the design of stairs, bionic artists most often rely on plant forms.
- Colored glass is also used in bionic examples to create interesting lighting.
- IN wooden houses Tree trunks can be used as load-bearing columns. In general, wood is one of the most common interior materials in the bionic style. Wool, leather, linen, bamboo, cotton, etc. are also used.
- Mirror and glossy surfaces are taken from the surface of the water and harmoniously fit into it.
- An excellent solution is to use perforations to reduce weight individual designs. Porous bone structures are often used to create interesting furniture, while saving material, creating the illusion of airiness and lightness.
The lamps also mimic biological structures. Lamps that imitate a waterfall look beautiful and original. glowing trees and flowers, clouds, celestial bodies, marine life, etc. Examples of bionics are often used natural materials, which are environmentally friendly. Characteristic Features This direction is considered to be smooth lines and natural colors. This is an attempt to create an atmosphere close to natural nature, without abolishing the conveniences that man has acquired with the development of technology. Electronics are integrated into the design in such a way that they are not noticeable.
The Aqua skyscraper in Chicago is an example of bionics in interior design at the Swallow's Nest Stadium in Beijing
Examples of bionics in the interior include aquariums, interesting unusual designs and unique shapes that, like in nature, are not repeated. We can say that in bionics there are no clear boundaries and zoning of space; some rooms smoothly “flow” into others. Natural elements will not necessarily apply to the entire interior. Projects with separate elements bionics - furniture that follows the structure of the body, the structure of plants and other elements of living nature, organic inserts, decor made from natural materials.
It is worth noting that key feature bionics in architecture and interior design is the imitation of natural forms, taking into account scientific knowledge about them. Creating an environmentally safe living environment favorable to humans using new energy-efficient technologies can be an ideal direction for urban development. Therefore, bionics is a new rapidly developing direction, captivating the minds of architects and designers.
At the end of the 19th century, the innovative architect Antoni Gaudi found inspiration for Barcelona's grandiose Sagrada Familia cathedral while walking in the woods. A hundred years after Gaudi’s amazing projects, a new movement appeared in architecture called biometrics - imitation of nature in structures created by man.
Nature is the best source of inspiration for architects
Over the several decades of its existence in architecture, biometrics has changed its content and general direction. At the very beginning, architects were guided by natural forms in the drawings of their projects; today they are interested not only in external beauty; the direction seeks to “understand” nature, its capabilities and the many ways in which nature makes the most of the minimum amount of resources.
Today, humanity is increasingly faced with the need to save resources, from electricity to territory, and biometrics offers to imitate not only natural forms, but also the processes and structures through which a building becomes an active part natural world, without taking away resources, but on the contrary, adding them. Understanding the need to be closer to nature, architects study termite mounds and anthills to understand natural ventilation patterns. Roofs, facades and even walls of houses are used to grow plants and sometimes living organisms. We invite you to get acquainted with the most striking projects of biometric architecture.
Sagrada Familia, Barcelona, Spain
Gaudi always considered nature to be the best architect, and each of his projects became a kind of ode to natural forces. Antoni Gaudí's most magnificent work is the Sagrada Familia, which is scheduled to be completed in 2026, exactly one hundred years after the architect's death.
The interior of the cathedral, and especially the colonnade, is inspired by the image of a quiet forest. The columns, like the trunks of giant trees, tend upward, where they are illuminated by sunlight penetrating into the cathedral through green and gold stained glass windows.
Art Museum, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA
The most remarkable feature of the elegant Milwaukee Art Museum building is the solar roof, which resembles the wings of a bird and is adjustable. lifting mechanism, capable of lowering and raising a 90-ton protective structure.
The architect who designed the museum, Santiago Calatrava, drew inspiration from watching Lake Michigan, and it is on its shore that the museum stands. The lake inspired the architect with the image of wings and sails, which was reflected in the design of the building.
Kunsthaus, Graz, Austria
The Kunsthaus has a biomorphic structure and is in great contrast to the historical part of the city in which it was built. The main architects sought inspiration from nature, but did not try to imitate anything. The result of their labors was a building that local residents and enthusiasts modern architecture dubbed "friendly alien". The Kunsthaus is equipped with a media facade, which makes it look more like a living creature than a structure made of reinforced concrete panels.
National Theatre, Taichung, Taiwan
Architect Toyo Ito was inspired by natural caves, rock mounds and lines of water currents. He managed to combine all this into one design, which became like a natural island of smooth lines and rounded shapes in the noisy and “rectangular” city of Taichung.
30 Mary Ax, or Gherkin, London, UK
The cucumber-shaped tower, located in central London, is one of the first buildings to redefine the concept of imitating nature in architecture. In this project, not only the form and consumption are environmentally friendly daylight and areas for planting. The gherkin is built using an “exoskeleton,” a structure that carries ventilation throughout the building. The architects were inspired by the nutritional process of a sea sponge, which allows water to pass through itself. The absolute absence of corners in the building does not allow air flows to go down, thereby ensuring natural ventilation.
Eden Project, Cornwall, UK
Huge Botanical Garden area of 22 thousand square meters located on the territory of an abandoned and cultivated quarry. On the territory of Eden grow species of trees, grasses and shrubs of tropical latitudes and Mediterranean climates, as well as jungle flora. The garden consists of several domes, in shape and appearance resembling soap bubbles.
Inside the spheres are divided into biomes - territories united by common climatic conditions and vegetation. At the center of "Eden" there is an educational center imitating the Fibonacci spiral - a shape that is repeated by pine cones, pineapples, sunflowers and snail shells.
Seaweed House, or Green House, Hamburg, Germany
A unique house in Hamburg includes in its design living organisms - microalgae that live in aquariums located in the walls of the building. These algae grow tens of times faster than any other organisms on the surface of the Earth, they are regularly collected and used as biomass to produce fuel. Residents of such a house use 100% green energy. In addition to the energy function, algae regulate the lighting of the building. IN sunny weather they multiply quickly and cover the walls of the aquarium with a green translucent veil, acting as a natural filter. In bad weather, the glass remains transparent and allows maximum daylight to pass through.
Eastgate Office Centre, Harare, Zimbabwe
The chief architect of this office and shopping center managed to design the house using the very natural ventilation of termite mounds. The idea came to him while watching a documentary about termites. External design The building, its facade, is covered with holes, like skin with pores.
Architects call Eastgate the best example of biomimicry to date, and not only in construction and design. The result of Mick Pearce's idea was the concept of passive ventilation, a concept in which the building does not need a heating or air conditioning system, thereby saving on energy.
Downland GridshellBuilding, Chichester, UK
This light and airy building is part of the museum of the same name under open air. Its construction was completed in 2002, the main material being thin oak strips, bent to create a double curve imitating the shape of a shell.
In addition to its natural shape, the structure of the building resembles the process of building a nest by intertwining thin twigs. This creates a very light but strong structure. Use of renewable natural resources and the location of the building in the very center of the forest make it even closer to nature.
Organic architecture- a movement of architectural thought first formulated by Louis Sullivan based on the principles of evolutionary biology in the 1890s. and found its most complete embodiment in the works of his follower Frank Lloyd Wright in the 1920s - 1950s.
Organics (Bionics)(from the Greek biōn - element of life, literally - living) is a science bordering biology and technology, solving engineering problems based on analysis of the structure and vital activity of organisms. Simply put, if you remember Leonardo da Vinci, who tried to build aircraft with flapping wings like birds, then you will immediately imagine what the organic style is.
The first attempts to use natural forms in construction were made by Antonio Gaudi. And it was a breakthrough! Park Guell, or as they used to say “Nature frozen in stone” - nothing like Europe, spoiled by architectural delights, and the whole world, have not yet been seen. These masterpieces of the great master gave impetus to the development of architecture in organic style.
In 1921, bionic ideas were reflected in the construction Rudolf Steiner Goetheanum, and from that moment on, architects all over the world took organic matter into their “weapons”.
From the time of the Goetheanum to the present day, many buildings have been built in organic style. a large number of both individual buildings and entire cities. The most influential representative of organic architecture in Europe was the Finn Alvar Aalto.
Style Features:
● Organic architecture is defined by forms that are not based on geometry. They dynamic, incorrect
, arising as a result of contacts with reality. At the same time, each form of organic architecture should be considered as organism
which develops according to the law of its own existence, its own special order, in harmony with its functions and its environment, like a plant or other living organisms.
● In contrast to functionalism, organic architecture sees its task in creating buildings and structures that reveal properties
natural materials and organically integrated
into the surrounding landscape. A supporter of the idea of continuity of architectural space, Wright proposed to draw a line under the tradition of deliberately highlighting the building and its components from the surrounding world, which has dominated Western architectural thought since the time of Palladio. In his opinion, the shape of a building should each time follow from its specific purpose and the unique environmental conditions in which it is erected. In practical terms, Wright's "prairie houses" served as a natural extension of the surrounding environment. natural environment, similar to the evolutionary form of natural organisms. The individualism of organic architecture inevitably came into conflict with the needs of modern urbanism, and it is not surprising that the main monuments of this trend were country mansions.
● In its essence, bionics, as an architectural style, strives to create such spatial environment, which with its entire atmosphere would stimulate exactly the function of the building or room for which the latter are intended. IN organic house the bedroom will be a bedroom, the living room will be a living room, the kitchen will be a kitchen. Rudolf Steiner said: “The spiritual aspect of creating bionic forms is associated with an attempt to understand the purpose of man. In accordance with this, architecture is interpreted as a “place” where the meaning of human existence is revealed.”
Attempts at the beginning of the 21st century to transfer the principles of organic architecture to larger-scale structures and to blend harmoniously into nature, creating a psychologically comfortable environment in urban conditions, gave rise to such a style asBio-tech(Bio-Tek) . This style is still at the stage of developing manifestos, but is already starting actively seize positions.
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NATURE IN ARCHITECTURE
Architecture from birth carries the idea of domination over its native environment. The first type of Stone Age structure that has come down to us, from which the history of architecture dates back, is the menhir, a vertically placed block of stone. She proudly declares herself in the surrounding landscape, emphatically contrasting the horizontal of the earth with her aspiration to the sky. This may seem naive, but it is from here, from the menhir, that there is a direct road to Russian bell towers, Gothic cathedrals and skyscrapers of Manhattan.
Since that archaic time, architecture has always strived to master the landscape, occupy the most advantageous positions in it, and become its dominant. A fortress, a church, an estate invariably find their place on an elevated point of the relief, as if mastering the natural situation and spreading around a specific field of their architectural influence. Time has changed little the essence of this approach. One of the creators of modern architecture, Le Corbusier, said this when commenting on his plan: architecture spreads its waves in the surrounding natural landscape like a ringing bell.
Something else has changed - the very situation of an architectural structure standing alone in nature has become unique and highly uncharacteristic. The most common case was the placement of a building in the city, in close proximity to other buildings. The city shapes special type an artificial landscape in which, to use Corbusier’s analogy, multiple superpositions and complex refractions of architectural “waves” occur. Here you can hardly make out the “sound” emanating from a separate structure - it is drowned in the general hum.
At first, while the city was relatively small, the urban landscape still reproduced the main characteristic features of the natural situation. The dominant structures recorded the main points of the natural relief, the development emphasized the hillsides and the river floodplain. But the city grew, its structures grew, spreading to more and more new territories, leveling out uneven terrain, driving streams and even rivers into underground pipes. Now it was already a whole world, which had almost completely lost the visual connection with its natural underlying basis - a second nature that had buried the first, real one.
Gradually it became unclear what was more here - open street space or covered spaces enclosed within the walls of buildings. In any case, the latter turned out to be more protected from smoke, noise and other consequences of urbanization.
And then nature, which had retreated far beyond the city, expelled from its streets, enclosed in the miserable reservations of city parks, suddenly began to be reborn inside the buildings themselves. The buildings moved their walls, removed the ceilings, disdained all the canons of utilitarianism in order to absorb - no, not yet nature, but at least - symbols of nature.
The foliage of trees and the jets of fountains make noise inside the buildings. There are already many such structures. Huge, several floors high, hall with winter garden and almost became a fountain mandatory element large modern hotel or administrative building. This can be seen in the International mall in Moscow. There are also more modest examples - a building design organizations In Minsk.
Nature entered architecture. At the cost of considerable costs - there are financial and energy costs (extra cubic capacity!), and complex designs, and special engineering equipment. What is the reason for such waste? Socio-psychological factors? The desire to surprise, advertising? Perhaps this is partly it. But why exactly this way? After all, every, even seemingly completely random, whim of fashion has its own deep pattern. Perhaps behind all this there is a certain tendency that makes it possible to get ahead, to correctly anticipate objective development upcoming events?
Nature is in architecture. Let us think about the paradoxical meaning of this formula, which turns the traditional concept of architectural space on its head. What by definition should be outside turns out to be inside. Wednesday enters the house. Everything gets mixed up, the edges lose their clarity. The interior of the building becomes its face, in fact its facade. The building seems to be turning inside out. Strictly speaking, it ceases to be a house and becomes a fenced off part of the urban space. Fenced off - for now. The space of the building is preparing to become the space of the city.
And the focus, the culmination of this space is a mirror of water, the crown of a tree, a piece of land - particles of nature, albeit small, but real. Starting from the idea of invading nature, architecture gives away the holy of holies - its interior spaces- for the life-giving intervention of nature. This is truly true - drive nature through the door, it will come through the window.
In the motley and abundant stream of architectural searches of today, it is not always easy to discern the real, healthy seeds of the future behind the random husks. But one thing is clear - a new attitude towards nature will largely transform the nature of architecture itself. Visible evidence of this is the garden that blooms inside the house.
Main idea: great relay race
Architecture came to people from ancient times.
More than once she shed her usual appearance in order to appear before them renewed and full of strength. Antique order, Gothic vault, mirror wall skyscraper... It seems that what they have in common is that each time you have to start over, learn everything from the very beginning. And now, when the book has come to an end, we peer into the changeable face of architecture, once again trying to discern its future.
Throwing off the façade, merging into a single whole of spatial structure, adapting to the dynamic rhythm of life, to the specific needs of everyone, opening itself to nature, architecture is once again preparing to become different. One that is difficult for us to imagine. And yet - as always, with architecture.
Because no matter how architecture changes, no matter how similar it may seem to its own recent past, its essence remains unchanged. Each time it represents an attempt to organize human space. An attempt to bring into the spiritless physical world what is characteristic of human nature - reason and feeling, logic and beauty. Where she succeeded, her masterpieces remained. Where not, she began a new attempt.
The story about architecture will be continued in the next book. It will talk about the stage on which the dramatic performance of architecture is played out - about the city. Flipping through the pages of this book, peering at the familiar features of that real, non-book city in which each of us lives, even habitually plunging into its everyday bustle, let us always remember that next to us, through the streets and squares of the City, Architecture carries its great baton . An art in which mathematics and poetry continue their insoluble dispute, going into eternity.
Architectural Engineering
The interaction of architectural form and nature is manifested in several aspects:
- constructive-tectonic (study structural systems and principles of structure of living organisms and plants);
- climatic (the study of the reaction of natural forms to climate and their use in architecture);
- aesthetic (the study of the aesthetic properties of natural and architectural forms) and others.
Even the ancient Egyptians and Greeks used natural forms in their buildings. The representative of the famous philosophical school of the Stoics considered man a part of nature, and the comprehension of its laws and their use in artistic creativity- necessity.
IN ancient Greece sculpture with its cult of the human body was very closely connected with architecture. The great theoretician of antiquity Vitruvius wrote: “If, therefore, nature arranged the human body in such a way that its members in their proportions correspond to its general outline, then, it seems to me, the ancients quite thoroughly established the rule that when erecting buildings of proportionality individual parts the buildings corresponded exactly to the general appearance of the structure.”
Scientific awareness and in-depth study of the functions and structures of living nature became possible only in the middle of the 20th century. Bionic principles are used in the design of structures, buildings, architectural complexes and cities. Many structural tectonic systems: beams, columns, slabs, frames, folds, shells resemble roots, branches, trunks and leaves of plants, skeletons and shells of animals, the structure of the human body.
Thus, a column is similar to a tree trunk, a console is like its leaves, an egg shell, a human or animal skull is similar to a shell, the spine of animals resembles a beam, leaf veins are like ribbed frame trusses, and some leaves (Victoria Regia) are like a slab.
The principle of the structure of a tree leaf was used by L. Nervi in several structures; covering the main hall of the exhibition in Turin, covering the building of the Gatti factory in Rome. Other authors also addressed the structure of the sheet.
Studying the response of plants to climatic influences (temperature, solar reaction, humidity) helps to solve a series of problems related to taking into account these factors for architectural objects. The shape of plants reacts very sensitively to the presence or absence of heat and moisture. Thus, in a humid environment, plants strive to increase the ability to absorb air and therefore branch heavily; in desert conditions, the evaporation surface is reduced in every possible way, and the volume of the plant becomes compact - moisture reserves are saved.
Based on the study of the principle of the structure of plant skins, a proposal arose to create insulating materials and enclosing structures. The given examples of the bionic approach in architecture only partially illustrate its promise. In the future, people will turn many more times to the study of models created by nature and to their creative application.