Biomimicry in Architecture: The Potential Shift from Theory to Practice

The contemporary mode of life has been significantly modified as a logical response to the environmental challenges. This can be seen in the gradual transition from the carbon-intensive age to the ecological age in architectural practices through more ecological solutions and more sustainable framework such as vernacular architecture, zero energy buildings, sustainable architecture, and green architecture. Although the importance of nature has remarkably increased in these approaches, the severe environmental problems need more than a “green” approach to overcome their consequences. Nature provides a large database of strategies and mechanisms that can be applied in different design disciplines. Biomimicry is a rapidly growing engineering design discipline based on abstraction of good design from nature; however, biomimicry is still an emerging field in architectural design due to the absence of a systematic design process model to guide throughout the design process. Different trials have been developed to bridge this gap by providing a systematic way of incorporating biomimicry into architecture. Each of the developed trials focused on some aspects and neglected others. The fragmented outcome of these trials needs to be consolidated toward a comprehensive application of biomimicry in architectural practices. This paper represents the first phase of an ongoing research. The paper aims at correlating biomimicry theories and architectural design process; this is achieved via a comprehensive critical analysis of biomimicry definitions, concepts, approaches, levels, initiatives to incorporate these into an integrated architectural design process and case studies of biomimicry-based architecture. A proposed conceptual framework is then developed to inform the second phase of the research which aims to develop a design process model for biomimicry-based architectural practices to shift from theory to practice.