建筑仿生在表皮设计中的应用

A change in thinking has been ongoing in the architecture and building industry in response to growing concern over the role of the building industry in the excessive consumption of energy and its devastating effects on the natural environment. This shift changed the thinking of architects, engineers, and designers in the initial phases of a building’s design, with a change from the importance of geometry and form to assessing a building’s performance, from structure to a building’s skin, and from abstract aesthetics to bio-climatic aesthetics. In this context, sustainable, intelligent, and adaptive building façades were extensively researched and developed. Consequently, several typologies, strategies, and conceptual design frameworks for adaptive façades were developed with the aim of performing certain functions. This study focuses on the biomimetic methodologies developed to design adaptive façades because of their efficiency compared to other typologies. A comprehensive literature review is performed to review the design approaches toward those façades at the early stage of design. Then, the theoretical bases for three biomimetic frameworks are presented to gain an overall understanding of the concepts, opportunities, and limitations.

The building envelope has an essential role in the energy consumption of buildings and in regulating the energy exchange between the indoor and outdoor environment. Especially in hot climate zones, the temperature increases the cooling loads of the building, while a significant amount of energy is consumed to provide indoor comfort. Much research has been carried out recently to produce responsive and adaptive building envelopes to solve this problem. Nature is a reference for responsive, adaptive building envelope solutions, and the biomimicry approach is utilized. The biomimicry approach suggests using biological models/systems/processes as models/measures/mentors. This research used the biomimicry approach to propose an innovative facade design solution in this context. In this study, where a problem-oriented design approach was accepted, plants were analyzed to find a solution. Plants have evolved to adapt to a particular location's weather, wind, dryness, heat, and light. Buildings, like plants, depend on a specific location. For this reason, arid climate plants were examined in the study. The biological information from analyzing the plants studied was used to develop a design concept. As a result of this study, it is understood that nature has an extensive database and offers many solutions for problems that can be applied in architecture to produce energy-efficient, sustainable, and adaptable designs to indoor and outdoor conditions. The next step for this study is to translate the developed design concept into practice and conduct the necessary analysis

Abstract In this paper, we investigate the design of an adaptive biomimetic facade as a practical solution for enhancing energy efficiency of highly glazed buildings in the hot and humid regions. We present an adaptive facade that reduces solar heat gain and hence the energy consumption of the building, with minimal reduction in visual comfort (i.e., indoor lighting levels and visibility to the outer environment) of the users. The basic module of the facade consists of four shading devices that can be folded along both horizontal and vertical axes. The design enables shading under both high and low sun angles, without blocking visibility to the outdoor environment. To develop the facade, we explore and mimic the physical, physiological and adaptation properties of an Oxalis oregana—a leaf that has the natural ability to track sun path and change its angle/position accordingly. As a case study for the proposed facade, we take an existing 20-story office building in the hot and humid climate of Lahore, Pakistan. Our numerical results indicate that after retrofitting of the designed facade, the building's existing energy load decreases by 32%. Moreover, 50% of the interior space (as opposed to 55% before the retrofitting) still has lighting level within the recommended range of 500–750 lux. The investigation demonstrates that the proposed biomimetic facade can significantly reduce the energy consumption, with minimal reduction in visual comfort, of highly glazed buildings.

In the present and future, the buildings more qualified and energy saved to their inevitable surroundings has turned into a need and turn into a critical research point. To accomplish total decarbonization inside the buildings is vital to change structures from wasteful vitality consumers into net-zero vitality structures. This paper displays a modeled biomimetic way to deal with encourage the implementation of a shielding form to eco-friendly buildings and improve the advancement of the building structure. The shielding type contributes to consumption of energy thanks to the movement of kinetic cells placed on the outer surface of the building, provides comfort for usage and maintains the thermal balance for residents. Our design can be implemented as a coating material reducing cooling and heating electricity consumption for building facades that we will use in smart cities soon and adapted to self-supporting building types.

… biomimicry with generative design to develop an adaptive green façade system enhanced … This study applies generative design principles to create a biomimetic substrate inspired by …

… in the kinetic façade design specifically in the development of conceptual form and kinetic behavior dimensions and (2) exchanging the superficial biomimetic considerations with an in-…

… of nearly half of the facades are reactions to the … and façade designs. Roof cases applied active control systems only, while façade cases implemented both passive and active design …

Facades have an important role in the control of energy waste in buildings, nevertheless most of them are designed to provide static design solutions, wasting large amounts of energy to maintain the internal comfort. However, biological adaptation solutions are complex, multi-functional and highly responsive. This paper proposes a biomimetic research of the relationship that can be developed between Biology and Architecture in order to propose innovative facade design solutions. We focus on plants, because of plants, like buildings, lack of movement and remain subject to a specific location. Nevertheless, plants have adapted to the environment developing special means of interaction with changing external issues.

At present, buildings are increasingly being designed with transparent materials, with glass paneling being especially popular as an installation material due to its architectural allure. However, its major drawback is admitting impractical amounts of sunlight into interior spaces. Office buildings with excessive sunlight in indoor areas lead to worker inefficiency. This article studied kinetic façades as means to provide suitable sunlight for interior spaces, integrated with a triple-identity DNA structure, photosynthetic behavior, and the twist, which was divided into generation and evaluation. The generating phase first used an evolutionary engine to produce potential strip patterns. The kinetic façade was subsequently evaluated using the Climate Studio software to validate daylight admission in an indoor space with Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) version 4.1 criteria. To analyze the kinetic façade system, the building envelope was divided into four types: glass panel, static façade, rotating façade (the kinetic façade, version 1); an existing kinetic façade that is commonly seen in the market, and twisting façade (the kinetic façade, version 2); the kinetic façade that uses the process to invent the new identity of the façade. In addition, for both the rotating façade and twisting façade, the degrees of simulation were 20, 50, 80, and 100 degrees, in order to ascertain the potential for both façades to the same degree. Comparing all façades receiving the daylight factor (DF) into the space with more or less sunlight resulted in a decreasing order of potential, as follows: entirely glass façade, twisting façade (the kinetic façade, version 2), rotating façade (the kinetic façade, version 1), and static façade. By receiving the daylight factor (DF), the façade moderately and beneficially filtered appropriate amounts of daylight into the working space. The daylight simulation results indicated that the newly designed kinetic façade (version 2) had more potential than other building envelope types in terms of filtering beneficial daylight in indoor areas. This article also experimented with the kinetic façade prototype in an actual situation to test conditional environmental potential. The twisting façade (the kinetic façade, version 2) was explored in the building envelope with varied adaptability to provide sunlight and for private-to-public, public-to-private, or semi-public working areas.

… of existing façade systems in sustainable building design. … Integrating biomimetic principles into façade design is a … By drawing inspiration from nature, biomimetic adaptive façades …

Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions leading to anthropogenic global warming continue to be a major issue for societies worldwide. A major opportunity to reduce emissions is to improve building construction, and in particular the effectiveness of building envelope, which leads to a decrease in operational energy consumption. Improving the performance of a building's thermal envelope can substantially reduce energy consumption from heating, ventilation, and air conditioning while maintaining occupant comfort. In previous work, a computational model of a biomimetic building façade design was found to be effective in temperate climates in an office context. Through a case study example based on animal fur and blood perfusion, this paper tests the hypothesis that biomimetic building facades have a broader application in different building typologies across a range of climate zones. Using bioinspiration for innovation opens new ideas and pathways for technological development that traditional engineering design does not provide. This study exemplifies the process in a building façade, integrating a new form of insulation, heating and cooling. Methods of mathematical modelling and digital simulation methods were used to test the energy reduction potential of the biomimetic façade was tested in a set of operational applications (office, school, and aged care) and across different climate zones (tropical, desert, temperate, and cool continental). Results indicated that the biomimetic façade has potential to reduce energy consumption for all building applications, with the greatest benefit shown in residential aged care (67.1% reduction). Similarly, the biomimetic building façade showed potential to reduce operational services energy consumption in all climate zones, with the greatest energy reductions achieved in the tropical (55.4% reduction) and humid continental climates (55.1% reduction). Through these results the hypothesis was confirmed suggesting that facades engineered to mimic biological functions and processes can improve substantially decrease building operational energy consumption and can be applied in different building classifications and different climate zones. These results would significantly decrease operational greenhouse gas emissions over the lifetime of a building and provide substantial savings in energy bills. Such facades can contribute to the further reduction in greenhouse gas emissions in a broad range of contexts in the built environment and other areas of technology and design. The flexibility and adaptability of biomimetic facades exemplify how biological strategies and characteristics can augment and improve performance in different environments, since the organisms that inspire innovation are already well-adapted to the conditions on earth. This study also exemplified a method by which other biomimetic building envelope features may be assessed. Further work is suggested to assess economic viability and constructability of the proposed facades.

Many recent studies in the field of the kinetic facade developed the grid-based modular forms through primary kinetic movements which are restricted in the simple shapes. However, learning from biological analogies reveals that plants and trees provide adjustable daylighting strategies by means of multilayered and curvature morphological changes. This research builds on a relevant literature study, observation, biomimicry morphological approach (top-down), and parametric daylighting simulation to develop a multilayered biomimetic kinetic facade form, inspired by tree morphology to improve occupants’ daylight performance. The first part of the research uses a literature review to explore how biomimicry influences the kinetic facade’s functions. Then, the study applies the biomimicry morphological approach to extract the formal strategies of tress due to dynamic daylight. Concerning functional convergence, the biomimicry principles are translated to the kinetic facade form configuration and movements. The extracted forms and movements are translated into the design solutions for the kinetic facade resulting in the flexible form by using intersected-multilayered skin and kinetic vectors with curvature movements. The comprehensive annual climate-based metrics and luminance-based metric simulation (625 alternatives) confirm the high performance of the bio-inspired complex kinetic facade for improving occupants’ daylight performance and preventing visual discomfort in comparison with the simple plain window as the base case. The kinetic facade provides daylight performance improvement, especially the best case achieves spatial Daylight Autonomy, Useful Daylight Illuminance, and Exceed Useful Daylight Illuminance of 50.6, 85.5, 7.55 respectively.

Enhancing the thermal performance of building façades is vital for reducing energy demand in hot desert climates, where envelope heat gain increases cooling loads. This study investigates the integration of biomimicry into opaque ventilated façade (OVF) systems as a novel approach to reduce façade surface temperatures. Thirteen bio-inspired façade configurations, modeled after strategies observed in nature, were evaluated using computational fluid dynamics simulations to assess their effectiveness in increasing airflow and reducing inner skin surface temperatures. Results show that all proposed biomimetic solutions outperformed the baseline OVF in terms of thermal performance, with the wide top mound configuration achieving the greatest temperature reduction—up to 5.9 °C below the baseline OVF and 16.4 °C below an unventilated façade. The study introduces an innovative methodology that derives façade design parameters from nature and validates them through simulation. These findings highlight the potential of nature-based solutions to improve building envelope performance in extreme climates.

Climate change, increase in CO2 production and energy consumption are major global issues and the building, environmental and construction sector is contributing to the increasing concern day by day. Due to increasing demands to satisfy environmental, social, and economic requirements, designing efficient and sustainable buildings has become increasingly complex. Today, the tendency towards sustainability has created new design approaches regarding adaptable kinetic building envelopes, amongst all, biomimetic design principles have gained interest. As opposed to traditional methods, the implemented biomimetic design approach in this research can assist in finding solutions for complex real-life problems regarding the adaptability of kinetic facades to achieve robustness, tractability, low solution cost and better rapport with reality. Design frameworks introduced to this day either do not incorporate bio-inspired concepts or are not able to map potential trade-offs in the performance of multi-functional biomimetic adaptable skins, effectively. Therefore, a flexible and expandable framework is necessary to go beyond project-based frameworks applied to case specific conditions. To design for performance, this research proposes a framework and aims to integrate different biomimetic approaches to assist designers and researchers in two steps to design and evaluate kinetic facades in different phases of development.

Adaptive facades are considered one of the most prominent interfaces between the exterior and interior of the building. The most advanced approaches in facade design are human-centered, focusing on user needs, making it complex to balance human comfort and energy consumption. This research takes a problem-oriented approach within the biomimetic framework, employing a clustered review methodology to systematically categorize studies, identify solutions, and develop innovative strategies based on cutting-edge research. This paper introduces a novel biomimetic kinetic Beams-Redirected Adaptive Façade (BRAF), inspired by pangolin scales. The triangular panels tilt and shift to control daylight and reduce cooling loads based on solar angle and occupant position. Simulations demonstrate balanced illuminance, negligible glare, and over lighting risks, 60–100% daylight autonomy, and lower cooling loads compared to louvers. The BRAF’s tailored performance across various states and occupant positions surpasses that of an unshaded space. The BRAF’s sun-tracking and occupant-responsive capabilities exemplify an advanced facade design that successfully balances competing objectives. Further refinements in control logic are necessary to enhance user-adaptive performance across diverse climate contexts. Finally, this study integrates two key methodologies—clustered review and BRAF development—interactively and systematically to provide a comprehensive investigation.

… We will describe and show how a biomimetic … biomimetic thermoregulating envelope using a biomimetic approach as a framework. We will describe the different steps behind the design …

… The last category in this overview concerns examples of bio-inspired envelopes which involve not just the façade layer, but the whole building in three dimensions. Heliotrop, as a …

We are currently addressing a significant problem all over the world which is the energy shortage combined with the issue of the high energy consumption of buildings. 

Bio-mimicry design applies natural structures and efficiencies to engineering solutions, enhancing sustainability in modern building construction. In this research, Infinity Kagome lattice …

… biomimetics, and bio-inspired design, primarily focusing on … methodological clarity in bioinspired design. Wootton-Beard … adaptive strategies for biomimetic building skins, linking them …

In this article, the authors present a global synthesis of the work done on adaptive architectural skins using smart materials, based on the biomimetic approach. Their geometric configurations are adjusted under the effect of environmental stimuli. The integration of advanced technology into a building projects has as its principal objective to bring more comfort to everyday life. The current buildings envelopes are statics, while climate and users’ needs are considerately variable. Looking for a sustainable design of the buildings skins to move from theirs passive role to a more active role, the concept of adaptive skin is emergent and several progresses in building skins technologies have been implemented recently all around the world. The reflection focuses on the analysis of innovative architectural design projects that was inspired by nature, especially those related to plant adaptation strategies. To explore new potential for buildings envelopes design, new smart materials that present reversible movements due to external stimuli are studied.

… development of energy efficient building systems. Several biomimetic building skins (Bio-BS… in radical innovation; (2) public building projects which used conventional design and …

Systems found in nature are a valuable source of inspiration for several applications. Scientists and researchers from different fields (structural engineering, robotics, medicine, and materials science) use the concepts of biomimicking, biomimetics, and bioinspiration. More recently the possibility to benefit from solutions developed by nature has become of interest for sustainable architecture. Living organisms use smart, optimised, and elegant solutions to survive, thanks to continuous selection and mutation processes. For over 460 million years plants have been evolving in a constantly changing environment and have become well-adapted to different climatic conditions. Faced with several challenges (water loss, extreme temperatures, UV radiation, etc.) plants, for example, developed tissues with barrier properties. Furthermore, due to their immobility, plants are excellent biological materials for detecting climate phenomena. While animals, being mobile, developed other creative survival strategies through a long evolutionary process. Being exposed to various environments, they not only developed multifunctional surfaces, but also movements and a broad portfolio of sensing methods that increased their survival efficiency. Comprehensive analysis and evaluation of the adaptation strategies of plants (both static strategies and dynamic mechanisms) and animals to their environment in different climate zones are indispensable for transferring concepts from biology to architecture. Consequently, specific adaptation solutions might be implemented in new materials that will be used for building envelopes erected in the same climatic zones. Integrating length scales and mixing biological, chemical, and physical concepts for tailoring the properties of materials during preparation should allow for better designing of future smart materials. The process should lead to the development of active biomaterials that perform as interfaces between outdoor conditions and internal comfort. In that they should be able to regulate humidity, temperature, CO2, and light as well as capture and filter pollutants; in addition, they should have self-assembling, self-cleaning, grafting, and self-healing properties. This contribution provides an analysis of several examples that represent the adaptation of organisms to various environments and are presented with the aim to inspire future researchers in the development of new building materials.

Building envelopes can manage light, heat gains or losses, and ventilation and, as such, play a key role in the overall building performance. Research has been focusing on increasing their efficiency by proposing dynamic and adaptive systems, meaning that they evolve to best meet the internal and external varying conditions. Living organisms are relevant examples of adaptability as they have evolved, facing extreme conditions while maintaining stable internal conditions for survival. From a framework based on the inspiration of living envelopes such as animal constructions or biological skins, the concept of an adaptive envelope inspired by the Morpho butterfly was proposed. The system can manage heat, air, and light transfers going through the building and includes adaptive elements with absorption coefficients varying with temperature. This paper presents the developed framework that led to the final concept as well as the concept implementation and assessment. A prototype for heat and light management was built and integrated into a test bench. Measurements were performed to provide a first assessment of the system. In parallel, geometrical parametric models were created to compare multiple configurations in regards to indicators such as air, light, or heat transfers. One of the models provided light projections on the system that were compared with measurements and validated as suitable inputs in grey-box models for the system characterization.

… The findings of this paper are that human skin as a natural concept can be a useful concept to learn from. After analysing … 2.2 Bio inspired strategies … Enhancing building envelope …

… ‘sweating skins’ for cooling buildings. … bio-inspired sweat cooling, specifically using tough DN-Gel coatings, represents a promising energy-efficient technology for cooling buildings …

… itself forward 6 , to bio-inspired locomotion based on snake skin and kirigami techniques 7 . … extended to adaptive façade systems and bio-inspired architecture, such as the Flectofin …

… necessitating the optimization of building shading skins to enhance overall … biomimetic adaptive building shading skins encounter … This study proposes a biomimetic shading skin design …

… long history [13] and, being composed of rigid bars and cables as bones and nerves in the body, they also belong to the class of bio-inspired structures. Acting on the cables it is …

Buildings must adapt and respond dynamically to their environment to reduce their energy loads and mitigate environmental impacts. Several approaches have addressed responsive behavior in buildings, such as adaptive and biomimetic envelopes. However, biomimetic approaches lack sustainability consideration, as conducted in biomimicry approaches. This study provides a comprehensive review of biomimicry approaches to develop responsive envelopes, aiming to understand the connection between material selection and manufacturing. This review of the last five years of building construction and architecture-related studies consisted of a two-phase search query, including keywords that answered three research questions relating to the biomimicry and biomimetic-based building envelopes and their materials and manufacturing and excluding other non-related industrial sectors. The first phase focused on understanding biomimicry approaches implemented in building envelopes by reviewing the mechanisms, species, functions, strategies, materials, and morphology. The second concerned the case studies relating to biomimicry approaches and envelopes. Results highlighted that most of the existing responsive envelope characteristics are achievable with complex materials requiring manufacturing processes with no environmentally friendly techniques. Additive and controlled subtractive manufacturing processes may improve sustainability, but there is still some challenge to developing materials that fully adapt to large-scale and sustainability needs, leaving a significant gap in this field.

Adaptation strategies and principles can be learned from nature. It has developed through their evolution various strategies to cope with the different climatic aspects that suit different environmental conditions. Investigating and analyzing these strategies and their dominating principles is essential prior to the transfer of their strategies to adaptive building envelopes. From plant adaptations to Building envelopes using biomimicry. This approach can help future building skins to be more responsive and adaptive that change with time to adapt environmental conditions to both external and internal conditions and satisfies thermal comfort levels.

… biomimicry methodology used in this paper (Table 1 ) is based on the solution-based approach for generating biomimetic architectural … the fundamental work on Biomimicry Thinking by …

ABSTRACT The responsibilities of the building sector concerning resource consumption and waste generation, as a problem of research, require a transition from a linear to a circular model in order to obtain significant positive effects on the environment. The Biomimicry approach appears to be a promising way to move the sector towards the circular economy, to meet the increasing levels of functional and environmental requirements, which is shifting the research on building materials and products toward biomimetic solutions. Along this path, the building envelope emerges as an interesting application field concerning its adaptive behaviour towards external conditions. In this field of research, the knowledge gap concerns the need for criteria to classify the biomimetic behaviour of building materials under operating conditions and to identify their environmental effects, as well as their compliance with the principles of the circular economy. The study provides a methodology to develop a set of classification criteria applicable to biomimetic materials and products which are suitable for application in the building envelope and a related set of markers that identify the strongest environmental relationships and implications related to the aptitude for integrating circular economy principles. The mapping highlights the absence of some relationships thus highlighting potential limitations of biomimetic materials/products within circular economy principles and thus current research limits. The results obtained may be useful to evaluate and compare biomimetic materials and products for the building envelope, whilst also providing the first step for further research on their environmental implications within circular economy processes. HIGHLIGHTS a classification system for biomimetic devices for building envelopes; biomimetic device features linked to expected effects provided to envelope; markers to assess compliance to circular economy principles of biomimetic devices; there are no previous environmental esteem effects of biomimetic building materials.

Building envelopes represent the interface between the outdoor environment and the indoor occupied spaces. They are often considered as barriers and shields, limiting solutions that adapt to environmental changes. Nature provides a large database of adaptation strategies that can be implemented in design in general, and in the design of building envelopes in particular. Biomimetics, where solutions are obtained by emulating strategies from nature, is a rapidly growing design discipline in engineering, and an emerging field in architecture. This paper presents a biomimetic approach to facilitate the generation of design concepts, and enhance the development of building envelopes that are better suited to their environments. Morphology plays a significant role in the way systems adapt to environmental conditions, and provides a multi-functional interface to regulate heat, air, water, and light. In this work, we emphasize the functional role of morphology for environmental adaptation, where distinct morphologies, corresponding processes, their underlying mechanisms, and potential applications to buildings are distinguished. Emphasizing this morphological contribution to environmental adaptation would enable designers to apply a proper morphology for a desired environmental process, hence promoting the development of adaptive solutions for building envelopes.

The study of biomimetic architecture on building envelope is the main structure of this research. The concept is believed more sustainable and efficient for energy saving, operating cost consumption, waste recycle and design renewal in the future. The inspiration from the nature developed the intention on this study to explore on what and how this concept to overcome the problems through design. Biomimicry does catch the attention of human to study more on the system and function of its nature course. The designers are not exception influenced by this concept when the form, shape, texture and colour inspired them in their design. The domination of building form will affect the building envelope as the skin of the structure. A clear impact on building failure is begun with building envelope appearance without a proper maintenance. The faults in building design place a heavy burden on the building for the rest of its operational life and there is no compensation for it. In such situations, the responsibility falls on the shoulders of the designer.

Abstract Thermal performance of building envelope is acquired a great deal of global interest. Recently, algorithms are used in architecture for generating inspired shapes from nature which could effect on thermal performance. The research investigates an architectural design Methodology based on a “Modeling-Simulation-Optimization” framework to control the thermal performance of the building envelope. The design of a parametric building envelope is optimized by biomimetic algorithms such as genetic algorithms to minimize the thermal performance. It explores the possibilities of Enhancing the thermal performance of the building envelope by reducing the total thermal loads of a proposed unit in an office building. Results demonstrate that the total thermal loads are decreased from 366.36 KWh to 319.98 KWh which is about 12.65% less than the total thermal loads of the default state before the optimization process. Finally, possible configurations of the building envelope are presented to enhance thermal performance in real architectural design.

… architecture. This research aims to present a generative design-based prototype of a biomimicry … and parametric substrate, optimizing the architectural form using a genetic algorithm. …

The term biomimicry comes from the Greek words “bios”, meaning life, and “mimesis”, meaning to imitate. Since the biomimetic approach has resulted in many successful examples over the years, a literature review shows how successfully biomimetic architecture could respond to mitigating climate change by examining the biomimicry approach for building envelope adaptation. To demonstrate the significance of biomimicry in fulfilling an adaptive building envelope, the paper will begin by explaining the biomimicry approach and building envelope adaptation methods. Additionally, it showcases some successful architectural examples that were able to enhance energy efficiency, highlighting how those examples were able to combat climate change through observing their adaptive strategies found in nature and the application of those strategies to buildings to enhance energy efficiency and contribute to resilience and sustainability. A hypothetical framework that follows the biomimetic principles for adaptive building envelope theories will also be proposed. The proposed framework will be applied to an office building in a hot and dry area, inspired by the adaptive strategies of cacti. Finally, to assess the efficiency of the suggested framework in achieving climate change mitigation, the paper will conclude by evaluating the outcomes through software simulation, measuring its potential in maintaining adaptive strategies within the building envelope, and how it affects the building’s overall energy performance.

… explore envelopes as found in nature with an eye on their application to architecture and … of biomimetics to the development of multifunctional envelopes systems, in terms of structural …

Biomimicry, as a field of science, is mainly defined as a solution for design problems inspired by natural models, systems, and elements. For the built environment, using nature as a guide can enhance sustainability or even go beyond that and generate a regenerative approach. This is important in the building sector to evolve towards a sustainable and circular economy and reduce CO2 emissions in terms of energy-use. While several biomimicry-related keywords exist, scholars and practitioners in architecture have given varying interpretations to the term biomimicry depending on the use and goal. There has been increasing interest in biomimicry in architecture (BIA), yet the field has become more fragmented. This study aims to highlight differences and similarities through an extended literature survey and analysis that explores case studies, classification systems, and methodological frameworks related to biomimicry in architecture as a way to contribute to reduce the fragmentation in the field. To provide the necessary context and avoid confusion regarding the many concepts and terms that refer to nature-based design, biomimicry-related keywords and interpretations of the word biomimicry are first clarified. Ultimately, the discussion is an integrative effort at defining the field, and highlights the significance and impact of employing BIA in terms of sustainability and usability, as well as showcasing the opportunities for further research.

The term “bioinspiration” defines a creative approach based on the observation of biological principles and transfer to design. Biomimicry is the recent approach, which describes a large field of scientific and technical activities dealing with an interdisciplinary cooperation between biology and other fields with the goal of solving practical problems addressing innovation or sustainable development. Architecture has been influenced by many aspects of natural and social sciences, among these, biology is currently blending into design activities. Bioinspiration has evolved and shifted architectural practices towards numerous innovative approaches through different bioarchitectural movements from the past until the present. However, there is a blur of biomimicry within bioinspiration in architecture between the direct copy of mere natural forms and the true understanding of biological principles, which is the pivot of sustainable development. The main challenge remains in the gap between the profound knowledge of biology, its related scientific fields and the creative process of architectural design, including cross-disciplinary collaboration between architects and biologists. This entry presents main bioarchitectural movements and how it leads to today’s biomimicry. It proposes to define biomimicry methodologies and how this approach applies to architectural design contexts through the study of existing case studies. The opportunities, challenges and the future outlook of the field will also be discussed.

The urgent need for sustainable, energy-efficient, and environmentally responsive buildings has intensified in the face of global climate challenges. This study presents an integrative architectural approach that synthesizes biomorphic and climatic design principles to create energy-efficient structures with minimal ecological impact. A hotel building—serving both residential and recreational functions—is proposed as a case study to demonstrate this dual methodology. The biomorphic design draws inspiration from the growth patterns and natural geometries of trees, incorporating tree trunk cross-sections and bamboo as central elements in both structural planning and façade articulation. Complementarily, climatic design strategies integrate vernacular elements such as shaded porches, internal courtyards, elevated foundations, and regionally appropriate materials to enhance thermal performance. These features promote natural ventilation, reduce reliance on artificial heating and cooling systems, and improve daylight utilization, thereby lowering energy consumption and environmental impact. The resulting architectural framework underscores the potential of bio-inspired and climate-adaptive design strategies in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. It offers a replicable model for architects and policymakers seeking to develop resilient and livable built environments in a warming world.

Nature serves a valuable source of learning for humans, particularly inspiring architectural design. Architecture as an interdisciplinary field has been influenced by various natural science topics. Also, to respond to the growing environmental challenges, the use of nature's position in architecture and the building industry has received extensive attention. In this review paper, in the first stage, the concept of nature, the effect of nature forms on sustainability and its relationship with humans are examined and their reflection in nature-based architectures is expressed. In the second stage, the concept of designs and architectures inspired from nature and biology, design methods of these types of architecture and ways to achieve the goals of sustainable and green architectures have been thoroughly reviewed. In the third stage, we analyse the advantages and disadvantages of these designs and architectures, focusing on energy efficiency, well-being, thermal comfort, and characteristics of sustainable architecture. Finally, solutions are proposed to achieve energy reduction and increase thermal comfort in nature-based architectures.

The concepts of "performance" and "performative" are gaining significant attention in spatial design discourse. "Performative" is often linked with qualities such as open-form flexibility and scenic or theatrical attributes. It highlights the interaction between intentional and accidental elements, as well as the dynamic nature of environments. Some literature characterizes performative spatial design as the ability to execute multiple functions either simultaneously or individually, while others interpret it as a means of conveying content. Most discussions focus on three-dimensional spaces or architectural scales. This essay delves into the theories behind the term "performative" and its application in analyzing and describing the two-dimensional aspects of urban spaces, interiors, and architecture. It explores the semantic range and applications of "performative" and "performance" beyond simple analogies to the performing arts, aiming to articulate innovative and complex qualities of architectural skins and interior surfaces, including their capacity to communicate, narrate content, convey knowledge, and embed cultural references.

… temperature influences performance more than the de-actuation temperature. Bio-ABS can improve the performance when compared against static and conventional façades. The …

… facades. Technologies such as biomimetic adaptive building skins are emerging, allowing facades … systems and analyses their measured performance benefits. A significant challenge …

The article explores bionics as a scientific and methodological foundation for creating sustainable architecture capable of energy-efficient functioning and achieving synergy with the natural environment. It examines the evolution of bionics from the formal imitation of organic forms to the comprehensive application of biomimetic principles. Through specific examples – such as the passive ventilation system of the Eastgate Centre in Zimbabwe, inspired by termite mound architecture, and façade concepts that mimic photosynthesis – the article reveals mechanisms for implementing bionic design solutions. Particular attention is given to analyzing the energy efficiency, adaptability, and resource-saving characteristics of bio-inspired architectural objects. The study highlights the contemporary understanding of bionics, which focuses on the principles of cyclicality, adaptability, and zero-waste design derived from natural ecosystems. It provides a detailed analysis of examples ranging from passive ventilation and thermal regulation systems modeled after termite mounds to adaptive façade systems that imitate photosynthesis and plant regulatory mechanisms. Special attention is paid to environmental synergy achieved through efficient resource management – for instance, mimicking water-harvesting strategies of desert insects or adopting lightweight yet durable structural analogues inspired by biological prototypes such as bone or spider silk to minimize material consumption. The discussion systematizes the advantages of the bionic approach – including enhanced energy efficiency, reduced operational costs, and improved comfort – while also addressing the challenges of its implementation, such as high research costs and the need for interdisciplinary collaboration. The article substantiates the idea that bionics serves not only as a tool for solving engineering problems but also as a catalyst for shaping a new architectural philosophy aimed at fostering harmony between the built and natural environments. The practical significance of the study lies in its potential use by researchers, educators, graduate students, and practitioners engaged in related scientific and design inquiries.

In the context of sustainability and ambitious goals for reducing CO2 emissions, modifying transparency in architecture becomes a crucial tool for managing energy flow into buildings. Kinetic shading systems (KSSs) regulate light and heat entry into a room, thereby reducing energy consumption and CO2 emissions and improving daylight comfort. Recent advancements in KSSs have led to a significant increase in published papers since early 2022. This paper systematically reviews recent technological innovations in KSSs and presents the mechanical principles utilized in these systems. Given the kinetic/mechanical nature of all case studies examined, a categorization based on ‘type of motion and deformation’ was used, ranging from the simplest to the most complex solutions. In the context of kinetic systems, the motion category addresses the displacement (translation, rotation, or both) of rigid façade elements, while deformation describes the transformation that changes the shape of these elements. The data are presented in tabular form, including details about building type, climate zone, research type, evaluation, and before and after values. Additionally, some reviewed systems’ authors drew inspiration from nature, employing biomimetic methods to design KSSs. Despite considerable growth, these solutions still represent only 21% of all analyzed shading system cases. This topic is extensively discussed, considering tropical and nastic plant movements towards this paper’s conclusion. The PRISMA protocol was used to review, screen, select, and retrieve all cited papers. This review covers the most recent publications from 2022 to April 2024, recorded in the WoS and Scopus databases, and includes 66 papers.

Abstract The architectural form of the facade determines its identity as well as interactions with micro-climate forces of the ambient environment, such as solar radiation. The dynamic nature of daylight and occupants' positions can cause some issues such as heat gains and visual discomfort, which need to be controlled in real-time operation. Improving daylight performance and preventing visual discomfort for multiple occupants simultaneously is challenging. However, integrating the biomimicry principles of morphological adaptation with dynamic, complex fenestration, and human-in-loop systems can lead us to find an optimal solution. This research builds on relevant literature study, biomimicry morphological approaches, and parametric simulations, to develop a bio-inspired interactive kinetic facade for improving multiple occupants' visual comfort simultaneously, inspired by plant's stomata movement and behavior principles. Learning from the transitory stage and hunting new position of stomata's patchy patterns, leads us to identify the dynamic transitory-sensitive area of attraction point on the facade that is triggered by the dynamic sun-timing position and multiple occupants. The annual climate-based metrics and luminance-based metric simulation results of 810 bio-inspired interactive kinetic facade alternatives prove that the elastic-deformable-complex-kinetic form triggered by the dynamic transitory-sensitive area can improve the visual comfort of multiple occupants simultaneously. In particular, the bio-inspired interactive kinetic facade with grid division 8x1 displays extraordinary daylight performance for south direction that prevents visual discomfort by keeping cases in the imperceptible range while providing an adequate average Spatial Daylight Autonomy of 60.5%, Useful Daylight illuminance of 90.47%, and Exceed Useful Daylight illuminance of 2.94%.

Building design is a product of multiple factors, such as concept and aesthetics, building materials and technologies, environmental conditions, and daylight requirements of the inner spaces. Biomimicry is an innovative approach that is used for the design of adaptable kinetic façade systems that can emulate the behavior of living organisms and provide an optimal solution to reduce heat gain and visual discomfort. This research is focused on the evaluation of the daylight performance of the south-facing architectural studios of the university building and the further proposal of a parametric shading system that emulates nature-based behavior. The study proposes multiple scenarios of kinetic façade behavior based on different degrees of openness and location of the shading elements. Computational simulations are used to evaluate visual comfort and find the solution that increases the use of natural light and provides visual comfort in the studios. The study considers the range of activities performed by architecture students, such as modeling, drawing, reading, writing, and computer use. As a result, several scenarios are selected, providing façade design that varies depending on the season and classroom.

… on the bimetal to propose a kinetic façade module responsive to changes in environmental … for self-shading applications on façades without electrical power or any mechanical device. …

… challenges by exploring adaptive facade systems that integrate biomimicry-inspired design … particular emphasis on kinetic facades. This research proposes a kinetic facade system that …

… Level of adaptation: In this case study, the façade functions in the same way as human skin: … The thermo-bimetals that make up the adaptive façade mimic the way an organism behaves …

… From plants to architecture: Biomimetic principles for the development of adaptive architectural envelopes, 2017. [18] MJ Mahtabi, Nima Shamsaei, and MR Mitchell. Fatigue of Nitinol: …

… Adaptive façades are technological … façade systems are used which delegate the adaptive capacity to the smart materials. In other cases, the adaptivity is instead explicit in the façade …

<div class="htmlview paragraph">In a context of global warming and our needs to reduce CO<sub>2</sub> emissions, building envelopes will play an important role. A new imperative has been put forth to architects and engineers to develop innovative materials, components and systems, in order to make building envelopes adaptive and responsive to variable and extreme climate conditions. Envelopes serve multiple functions, from shielding the interior environment to collecting, storing and generating energy. Perhaps a more recent concern of terrestrial habitats is permeability and leakages within the building envelope. Such air tight and concealed envelopes with zero particle exchange are a necessity and already exist in regard to space capsules and habitats.</div> <div class="htmlview paragraph">This paper attempts to acknowledge existing and visionary envelope concepts and their functioning in conjunction with maintaining a favourable interior environment. It introduces several criteria and requirements of advanced façades along with interior pressurization control. Furthermore, the paper also takes a closer look at the principles of ‘biomimicry’ of natural systems combined with the most up-to-date building materials and construction technologies, trying to integrate the notions of adaptation - where the capacity to survive depends on the ability to adjust to the environment - within the concept of technological evolution and innovation. An ‘adaptive’ attitude in the way in which we conceive our built structures provides a conceptual basis for the advanced building design of our future, as well as one concerned about the efficient management of the available resources. Built environments of the future (in extreme climates or not) will need to respond to Renewable, Adaptive, Recyclable and Environmental (R.A.R.E.) concepts in order to co-exist in a sustainable way with their surroundings.</div>

Biological organisms in nature vary in their thermal adaptation strategies according to the cold or hot climatic conditions they live in. In this study, a building envelope design, which provides a two-way function of both gaining the heat needed in cold climate conditions and preventing the heat gain in hot climate conditions was studied. The morphological features and adaptation behaviors of organisms living in extreme temperature conditions in nature to keep their body and nest temperatures in the optimum range were examined with biomimetic design methodology approach. When the adaptation skills of biological organisms in the transition to different seasons were taken as reference, it was seen that dynamism is necessary to apply a similar adaptation to structures for the effective use of energy. The dynamism of design proposals of the kinetic building envelope is obtained by combining morphological structures with smart materials. Contrary to existing one-way adapting building envelope designs which are costly, composed of mechanical components, and bring difficulties to be implemented on buildings, a comprehensive and technology-free approach was brought. Three ideas designed with a synthesizing approach that can adapt to both conditions were proposed. In order to compare the thermal comfort performance among the designs, solar thermal analysis was carried out using computational-fluid-dynamics (CFD) analysis. In the end of the analysis, it was seen that the building envelope cells can increase heat gain in winter up to 5.9°C in the interior wall, while the thermal temperature load can be reduced up to 1.1°C in summer.

… into autonomously responsive architectural systems that … current approaches to climate responsiveness in architecture, … , passive and materially embedded responsiveness. The paper …

Abstract Building envelopes represent the interface between indoor and outdoor environmental factors. In recent years, attention to climate adaptive building envelopes has increased. However, some types of adaptive envelopes don’t always offer low-tech solutions, but require energy for their activation and high operating and maintenance costs. Nature has always proposed a large database of adaptation strategies that are often complex, multi-functional, and responsive. Transferring the functional principles of natural organisms and their associated adaptive modalities to technologies is the challenge of the biomimetic discipline (from Greek bios, life, and mimesis, imitation) applied to the field of architecture. In this article, various examples of biomimetic architecture that illustrate the relationships between biology, architecture, and technology, were considered. Various analyses of the operating principles of natural organisms are carried out, particularly with regard to self-adapting materials, in order to transfer them to the building envelope, and to propose technological solutions capable of passively adapting to external climatic conditions. Among all natural organisms, plants are prefereble to animals because, like buildings, they remain stationary in a specific location. Despite this, plants have developed different adaptation mechanisms to survive in certain environments. Buildings with biomimetic adaptive envelopes, characterized by passive and low-tech solutions inspired by plants, help limit energy consumption, and improve not only the indoor microclimate but also the outdoor environment. In line with the ecological transition, this work highlights the importance of biomimetic as a strategy to orient the new paradigms of built space design towards innovative and sustainable models of low-tech solutions.

… Adapting smart, responsive materials into biomimetic building design paves the way … biomimetic materials and integrate technology in the development of responsive building envelopes…

INTRODUCTION As skin wraps our body, building envelopes wraps buildings and therefore acts and performs the functions that the skin performs, especially in thermoregulating the building which results in decreasing the energy consumed. The objective of this paper is to establish a building envelope as a living envelope able to control the heat in buildings the same way that nature does with our skin, without the use of electricity or mechanical elements, and hence decrease energy consumption and its devastating effect on the environment. This objective can be reached by using suitable smart building material and integrating it into the architectural design of the building. The methodology and objectives of this paper are as follows: Review the global warming problem, its consequences, and the role of the building sector in this problem. Study Biomimicry in architecture and its potential to decrease the share of the building sector's role in global warming. Select a smart building material that would allow ...

As it has always been, nature is the main source of inspiration. Its ability to sustain the coexistence of an endless number of organisms in perfect dynamic balance makes its behavioral patterns as a model to be followed. The key principle of these patterns is adaptation. Understanding its related concepts helped to interpret the continuous organisms’ change to achieve the equilibrium that is responsible for sustainability. However, this pattern is widely inspiring researchers to find solutions to a more and more sophisticated complexes beyond the limits of their scopes. One of these current emergent problems is energy conservation in general and at architectural domain in particular.This paper investigates the potentials of ‘Biomimicry’ –defined as an innovation inspired by nature- to come with original visions to building’s skin as a mediator surface between internal and external environmental conditions. It addresses a number of environmental concerns; energy balance, humidity, temperature, visual perception, noise, carbon dioxide concentration, and light intensity that the building’s envelop has to reconfigure their performance moving from the outer environment to the inner one. It presents a framework for biomimic design of building’s skin based on detailed studies for number of biomimic design processes, adaptation techniques and strategies for skin configurations. It also makes an in-depth analysis to a number of related examples to show the updated trends in adaptation related techniques. Finally, it comes up with recommendations concerning the most appropriate techniques that could be utilized to come with innovative solutions inspired by the native Egyptian biological conditions.

… The geometrical inflexibility of rigid-body kinetic building façades is disadvantageous in free-form … on bio-inspired designs and construction processes in climate-responsive building. …

Bio-inspired and bio-based materials are increasingly recognized as powerful enablers of climate-responsive and low-carbon architecture. By learning from natural systems, such as adaptability, self-regulation, and resource efficiency, these materials offer promising solutions to the escalating environmental pressures faced by the built environment. However, their systematic integration into building design remains limited, particularly in tropical monsoon climates. To address this gap, this study applies the Decision-Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) method to identify, prioritize, and map the interdependencies among ten bio-based and bio-inspired strategies for sustainable building design. The results highlight five dominant solutions: living building systems, bio-composite exterior cladding for weather resistance, mycelium-based insulation for humidity control, bio-based natural ventilation and passive cooling, and bio-inspired self-shading systems. The causal analysis reveals three key characteristics: (1) living building systems function as a central integrative nexus, (2) bio-composite cladding acts as a primary driver of durability and climate resilience, and (3) bio-based water filtration and local timber exhibit lower systemic leverage despite their environmental benefits. Theoretically, this study advances biomimetic design research by introducing a causal, system-level framework for understanding interactions among nature-inspired strategies. Practically, it provides architects, engineers, and policymakers with an evidence-based decision-support tool to prioritize climate-adapted, bio-inspired solutions, contributing to the development of resilient and regenerative architecture in rapidly changing climates.

The challenge of developing sustainable, adaptive architecture requires unconventional approaches to innovative knowledge about composition and dynamic interaction between building facades and environmental conditions. These approaches are often inspired by biology, its complex fine-tuned behaviour and integration of living systems. This paper proposes a system inspired from the optics of reflecting superposition compound eyes to create responsive facade structures that capture and distribute daylight within a building in response to the movement of the sun. This is investigated using the parametric reshaping of a building envelop as part of solar radiation and target ray simulations. The prototype facade system is capable of adapting to different functional needs, locations, times of the day, and other contextual conditions. Keywords: Biomimetics, kinetic/adaptive facades, reflecting superposition compound eyes

This study explores the integration of bio-inspired adaptive strategies by combining a kinetic façade with electrochromic glazing to optimize daylight performance and glare control. …

… Unlike the actuator based interactive surface this research is focused on generation of an integrated system of building façade relying on reciprocation between environmental stimuli as …

In anticipation of the growing demand for energy efficiency, research is underway on the advancement of the next generation of bio-inspired adaptive systems for multi-stimuli-responsive building envelopes. At this point, it is vital to perceive how materials are altered by various stimuli. To address this challenge, I conceptualise the following question: how can hydro-actuated systems become multi-responsive systems through combining bio-responsive mechanisms? To begin to imagine these actuators, I take inspiration from bio-inspired mechanisms to chart viable avenues/principles that can lead to scalable applications. Hydro-actuated facades can help decrease energy consumption in buildings because of the advantage of using bio-inspired materials and smart mechanisms derived from natural phenomena that occur on the scale of plants or animals. Most hydro-actuated facades are restricted in terms of their responses to a single stimulus, which makes them ineffective for building envelopes due to their inability to respond to other stimuli. The main aim of this study is to define challenges concerning hydro-actuated facades and develop principles to create a multi-stimuli-responsive system that senses and actuates passively. In this regard, by introducing a strategy of combining natural mechanisms in the context of architectural envelopes, this paper presents extra insight into the connection between building facades and environmental mechanisms.

ABSTRACT This research provides a new vision of designing a bio-inspired building facade by presenting an implementation case design and its technical details. The main purpose of the presented façade that has been inspired by a kind of kinetic plant called Ice-plant seed capsule is to develop an adaptive system that is responsive to changing natural environmental conditions, such as the direction of sunlight and incorporate it into architectural designs. The next objective of this bio-inspired façade is the reduction of energy consumption in buildings and the improvement of building performance by using bio-materials and responsive methods. This paper consists of two main parts. At first an introduction to bio-inspired façade in architecture and its typologies is presented. Next, a description of design principles for hydro-actuated facades with particular focus on executive aspects of all details is presented. In general, the proposed hydroactuated façade has triple performance considering sunlight and water (as natural factors), and natural ventilation (as a physical factor). As a result, this study provides further insight into the relationship between biological strategies and building facade. It also develops responsive building façades based on multi-functionality and adaptability aspects to promote deformable and sustainable architectural systems.

The construction sector is one of the largest contributors to global energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. High thermal losses and over-reliance on mechanical heating or cooling systems are due to the frequent failure of traditional facades to adapt to changing environmental conditions. Inspired by natural systems such as the thermic cooling of plant leaves and the responsive structure of pine trees, this study provides an algorithmic bio-inspired framework for adaptive building facade design. The framework optimizes the geometry of the facade and the material response to occupancy dynamics, temperature, and sunlight, combining evolutionary algorithms, swarm intelligence, and morphogenetic principles. Conventional methods, because of their rigid control logic, often fail to strike the right balance between performance, comfort, and aesthetics. To achieve a dynamic balance between energy consumption and indoor comfort, the proposed framework will introduce an adaptive, self-organising mechanism that continuously changes the elements of the facade in real time. Computational simulations using parametric modelling and energy-use analysis tools shall be performed to evaluate metrics like temperature comfort index (PMI), solar heat gain coefficient (SHGC), daylight autonomy (DA), and energy use intensity (EUI).

… Traditional photovoltaic (PV) façades are often constrained by low energy output, limited … interaction. This study presents a Bio-Adaptive Reflective Photovoltaic (BARP) facade system …

El conocimiento actual demuestra la expansión de las propuestas de las fachadas receptivas recurriendo a enfoques biomiméticos, investigación de materiales y diseño algorítmico. Este trabajo recoge las tendencias en materiales y tecnologías que contribuyen al control térmico y ambiental de los edificios a favor de la sostenibilidad. Analizamos once propuestas de fachadas e instalaciones, los diseños elegidos cumplen con los siguientes criterios: presentar diferentes estrategias reversibles de transformación del material y/o materiales de base biológica. En obras futuras, pretendemos proponer nuevas soluciones de fachada receptiva para contribuir a la sostenibilidad de los edificios.

… facades functionalities should adapt and evolve with weather conditions. Bio-inspired … the case of a photovoltaic bifacial ventilated facade realized with the purpose to identify properties …

In light of pressing global health concerns, the significance of indoor air quality in densely populated structures has been emphasized. This research introduces the Mimosa kinetic façade, an innovative design inspired by the adaptive responsiveness of the Mimosa plant to environmental stimuli. Traditional static architectural façades often hinder natural ventilation, leading to diminished air quality with potential health and cognitive repercussions. The Mimosa kinetic façade addresses these challenges by enhancing effective airflow and facilitating the removal of airborne contaminants. This study evaluates the façade’s impact on quality of life and its aesthetic contribution to architectural beauty, utilizing the biomimicry design spiral for a nature-inspired approach. Computational simulations and physical tests were conducted to assess the ventilation capacities of various façade systems, with a particular focus on settings in Bangkok, Thailand. The study revealed that kinetic façades, especially certain patterns, provided superior ventilation compared to static ones. Some patterns prioritized ventilation, while others optimized human comfort during extended stays. Notably, the most effective patterns of the kinetic façade inspired by the Mimosa demonstrated a high air velocity reaching up to 12 m/s, in contrast to the peak of 2.50 m/s in single-sided façades (traditional façades). This highlights the kinetic façade’s potential to rapidly expel airborne particles from indoor spaces, outperforming traditional façades. The findings underscore the potential of specific kinetic façade patterns in enhancing indoor air quality and human comfort, indicating a promising future for kinetic façades in architectural design. This study aims to achieve an optimal balance between indoor air quality and human comfort, although challenges remain in perfecting this equilibrium.