Fig.71 Humble administrator's garden in Suzhou, China, 16th century.
3 CLASSICAL APPROACHES TO INVESTIGATE OVERLAPS BETWEEN BIOLOGY ANO ARCHITECTURE Architects and builders have always drawn inspiration f rom nature. Countless analogies can be found in the architecture of all ages. The examination and application of nature's mat eriais, the symbolic or structu ral transfer of natural form, the interrelation of the editice with the environment, ali these aspects have been considered by builders at all times. Few people, however, have accepted the challenge to investigat e the overlaps between archit ecture and nature. Paolo Portoghesi has compiled a vast collection of analogies in " Nature and architecture", using a grid of archetypal element s of architecture with examples f rom all ages. 128 It is nota mere collection of formal elements. The system of using archetypes (the wall, the t ower, th e bridge... ) ensures parallels in functionality and structure. He refers to famous artists and philosophers dating back to classical Greece, and includes many examples of vernacular architecture as well. The examinati on of "Natural Constructions" carried out during the 1960s in Germany by Frei Ott o and his group t akes a more t echnical approach. The structu ral functioning of natural role models is the most import ant feature investigat ed. 128 Portoghesi, P. : Nature and Architecture, 2000, p.1 0
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The so-called "Sonderforschungsbereich 230 Biologie und Bauen", which was the frame for many efforts, partly laid the base for the active bionics community in Germany today. Strategic investigation of the overlaps of architect ure and biology has also been carried out by the Russian Juri Lebedew, culm inating in the only publication on "Architekturbionik" in 1971, which is a comprehensive collection of natural constructions of his t ime. 129 ln 2003, Werner Nachtigall published his book "Baubionik" that focuses on construction, orders t he fiel d in terms of technology, and offers a collection of role models. 130 "Vorbild Natur" d iscusses general design prin cipies, focusing on product development. 131 The Design and Nature conference series by the Wessex Institute ofTechnology provides a forum for a diversity of approaches to t his generic topic 132• Some of the numerous other publications dealing with single aspect s will be mentioned in the chapters following.
129 Lebedew, J.S. : Architektur und Bionik, 1983 130Nachtigalf, W.: Baubionik, 2005 131 Nachtlgall,
W.: Vorbild Natur, 199?
132 Brebbia, e.A. ( Ed.): Design in Nature series, launched in 2002