Tessellation

Harmony of Patterns

Omar Allabban

A thesis book for the Final Architectural Project submitted to the Department of Architecture, School of Architecture, Art, and Design at the American University in Dubai.

In Partial Fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Bachelor of Architecture

Fall 2022

Abstract

It seems that the further humanity progresses technologically, the further we move away from nature, and our settlements look more and more artificial and disconnected from organic life. Although architects have attempted to use nature as a reference in their architectural designs for centuries, it has been a struggle to integrate nature into architecture efficiently and justifiably. This thesis will explore the field of evolutionary biomimicry, specifically studying mathematical organic patterns, and will justify its use and how it can be implemented in the field of architecture.

The thesis will first study nature’s history at the beginning leading into the history of biomimicry and evolution and their historical applications. It will then delve into mathematics and its connection to art and architecture in human history, following geometry and proportion and how they were used as artificial methods to develop architectural elements and forms, essentially finding the root of the disconnection of modern-day architecture from nature. It would then move to the mathematical background of patterns in nature and their different categories giving examples illustrating each and explaining their biological background and the process by which they developed, looking for a solution in nature. A connection to architecture will then be made by studying the background of biomimicry and the different methods that have been used to apply this design methodology.

Approval of the Thesis Book for Final Architectural Project

Department of Architecture, School of Architecture, Art, and Design, American University in Dubai

Student’s Full Name: Omar Allabban

Thesis Book Title: Tessellation

Student Signature: _______________

Advisor / Professor Name: Dr. Abdellatif Qamhaeih

Advisor / Professor Signature: ________________

Date: ______________

Date:_______________

Introduction to Biomimicry & Evolution

1.0 - Introduction

1.1 - Why Evolution & Biomimicry?

1.2 - What is Biomimicry?

1.3 - Potential Benefits of Biomimetic Design

1.0

Introduction

The earth is estimated to be 4.5 billion years old, and the beginning of life on the planet started with a single molecule developing the ability to make copies of itself, the origin of that molecule is unknown, but this replication function is now called the DNA of the cell.

Throughout the millennia and aeons, these cells have grown into different organisms, becoming increasingly larger and more complex with each generation, producing different organisms that develop or improve body parts or defense mechanisms to prolong their life span and increase their ability to procreate and grow in numbers (Schopf 1941). This is the process of evolution, every generation of a living organism inherits the merits of the generation before it, and develops new functions or forms to improve its ability to survive in its environment.

Why Evolution & Biomimicry?

Eventually, life on earth had grown so large that entire ecosystemsofcomplexrelationshipsbetweencountless plants and animals had formed, encompassing life cycles and food chains, entire stable ecological systems that came to life through natural selection and adaptation through natural intelligence.

Thebiodiversityofourplanetwasessentialtothesurvival and development of humanity, and therefore, there is much to learn from the natural ecosystem to further develop our own artificial ecosystems. The question asks itself though, what does any of this have to do with the architectural field of building design?

What is Biomimicry?

The etymology of the word “biomimicry” comes from the Greek terms “Bios,” life, and “mimesis,” imitation. It is essentially the examination. We can define biomimicry as “the examination of nature, its models, systems, processes, and elements to emulate or take inspiration to solve human problems,” (Environment and Ecology 2010). What we can take from this is what applies to architecture, we can take inspiration from nature to solve architectural issues and develop buildings’ forms and functions using ecology as a reference.

These natural growth systems that develop cells into large-scale forms hold the potential to create better designsolutions,morphologicallyaswellasfunctionally, as evolutionary natural intelligence is based on developing the most efficient protective features to adapt to the organism’s environmental struggles. We can learn from nature’s primitive ability to produce organisms’ prime forms and functions through the concept of biomimicry (Yazıcı et al. 2020).

1.3 Potential Benefits of Biomimetic Design

Theconstructionindustryisoneofthelargestcontributors topollutionintheentireworld,producingapproximately 40% of the annual carbon emissions according to the USGBC (Jacques 2022). Consequently, the architecture industry has been striving toward sustainability and energy efficiency in the past few decades, as sustainable design is necessary for preserving the earth for future generations, and it is finally industry standard by this point in time with the existence of green building standards and certifications like LEED, BREEAM, and SAAFAT.

The architecture field can always do with more efficiency and find new creative design processes that can reduce the industry’s carbon footprint. Biomimetic designholdstremendouspotentialtoimproveefficiency in architectural design in countless categories and methods: passive cooling solutions, adaptive shading designs, better structural patterns, more efficient building envelopes, even influencing the construction process, and the list goes on and on. The richness of knowledge that the study of biomimicry holds is unlike any other in the field of large-scale sustainability in the building industry (Jamei and Vrcelj 2021).

Biomimicry’s Estimated Market Impact, 2025

Percent of Industry Sales

Paper manufacturing

Apparel, leather, and allied products

Petroleum and coal products manufacturing

Mining, quarrying. and oil and gas extraction

Air, rail, water, truck, and pipeline transportationservices

Printing and related activities

Plastics and rubber products manufacturinq

Informaticn technolegy

Focd, beverage, and tobacco products

Construction

Computer, electronic products, equipment, and applilances

Warehousing and storage

Utilities

Transportation equipment manulacturing

Textile mills and textile product mills

Archltectural, engineering. and related servlces

Waste management and remediation services

Chemical manufacturing

Background & History of Biomimicry

2.0 - History of Biomimicry Throughout Humanity

2.1 - Design Approaches

2.2 - Levels of Biomimicry

2.0

History of Biomimicry Throughout Humanity

Humans have unknowingly been using biomimicry to form shelters and advance historical technologies since the beginning of civilization. The first primitive example of biomimicry in history is Silk, the first fabric created by humans after taking inspiration from the silkworm in China around 3000 BCE. The Chinese were also the first to invent the umbrella circa 3 CE; Lu Ban observed children shielding themselves from the rain using lotus leaves, so he invented the umbrella out of silk, mimicking the functionality of the lotus leaf (Wyatt Schreiner 2018).

The unprecedentedly brilliant inventor and artist Leonardo Da Vinci was the first to demonstrate a complex exploration of biomimetic design principles. Da Vinci was captivated by the concepts of flight in his study of birds and bats and developed some revolutionary biomimetic designs that were entirely ahead of their time, taking inspiration from the structure of flying animals’ wings in an effort to give humans the ability to fly artificially.

He attempted to design a flying machine that was worn like wings on the arms and allowed the user to hover, and tried to use fire to sustain flight, (an earlier, less developed version of the hot air balloon essentially) but could not succeed at creating a safe method of flying. After his vigorous studies in this field with trial and error though, Da Vinci became the first to successfully invent the parachute (Jakab 2013).

Inthe1950s,AmericanbiophysicistOttoSchmittcreated the term “biomimetics” in the context of biomedical engineering while studying nerves in squids to create a device that mimicked natural nerve propagation systems (Universal Science Compendium 2013).

Moreover,onlyrecentlyin1997hastheterm“biomimicry” become relevant in the field of architecture, with the release of the revolutionary book by Jenine Beynus, “Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature.” Beynus brought attention to the concept of biomimicry in the engineering and design fields, and practically invented this design principle as a streamlined method. She created the organization “Biomimicry 3.8” with the purpose of fitting our society into nature without disrupting it, teaching people how to learn from nature to innovate rather than exploiting its resources (Wyatt Schreiner 2018).

2.1

Design Approaches

There are two primary approaches to biomimetic design, the top-down approach, which finds a specific design problem and explores biological principles to find a solution in nature, and the bottom-up approach, which involves studying biology and ecology to understand the biomechanics and morphology of organisms and detaching the ecological principles from their biological models to form a technical design solution (Aziz and el Sherif 2016).

Instead of looking to biology to solve a specific design problem, this thesis will be using the bottom-up approach, studying biology and ecology to influence architectural design to bring us closer to nature.

2.2 Levels of Biomimicry

Biomimicry is a broad field that insinuates mimicking nature in innumerous ways to increase sustainability in the built environment, which is why the science has been split into 3 levels that allow for the methodology to be described more specifically, determining which part of nature the designer is mimicking.

The first level is the “organism” level, drawing on the morphogenesis of different organisms in nature and investigating the evolution of living species, whether in plants or animals, to learn from their survivability and adaptation mechanisms. This level focuses on the concept of “natural morphogenesis”, which is the process of evolutionary development that allows an organism to develop its form through its interaction of natural system-intrinsic capabilities with external environmental forces. This level can lead to the innovation of our architectural forms by imitating the most successful and efficient forms in nature and producing more unique, organic, sustainable architectural designs (Mohammed et al. 2014).

The second level of biomimicry is the “behavioral” level, which studies the defense mechanisms and adaptive behaviors that live organisms have developed through evolution as responsive reactions to their ecosystem to improve their survivability in their environment. All organismshavetheabilitytocontroltheflowofresources in the ecosystem, and with their interactions with each other, they develop behaviors that tip the scales in their favor to increase their chances of survival. The form of the organism is not the object of interest in this level, but rather, the processes, functions, and behaviors of the organisms are mimicked to solve architectural design problems (Ahmar 2011).

The third level in biomimetic design is the “ecosystem” level,whichtakestheentireecosystemasanecological model and mimics its systems on an urban scale in conjunction with the organism and behavioral levels to create a regenerative urban design that benefits both the human and non-human systems mutually.

Thisapproachtobiomimicryismuchmorecomplexand difficult to achieve, as it requires a deep understanding of the ecological systems that can be relevant to the contextual conditions of the city, as well as much greater expertise in the two preceding levels. It involves the collaboration of an artificial human system and the natural biological ecosystem, but with the difficulty of achieving this type of harmony between ecological principles and artificial urban design comes remarkable strides in sustainability and ecological regeneration within every aspect that is affected by this design method (Vincent 2009).

Ecological Principles of Biomimicry

3.0 - Morphogenetics & Form Development

3.1 - Behavioral Biomimicry & Defense Mechanisms

3.2 - Ecosystem Level Biomimicry - Urban Level

3.0

Morphogenetics & Form Developement

According to a study at the National Academy of Sciences USA, the morphogenesis of every organism differs enormously depending on the DNA composition of the originating cell, but the development process can be generalized to give an understanding at a fundamental level. Live organisms come in vastly diverse shapes and sizes, but life’s organization follows a certain range of similarity, the most prevalent of which is “the approximate validity of Kleiber’s law, the power law scaling of metabolic rates with the mass of an organism,” (Banavar et al. 2014).

The geometric form of an organism is developed through the reproduction of its cells via the process of mitosis with a predisposed number of factors that follow a generic law. Organisms’ growth process falls under two categories that diverge into different form development methods, plants and animals. The factors that affect the final product are numerous, the most significant and notable of which will follow.

Daughter cells tend to mutate after splitting from their parent cell due to the introduction of new environmental factors, activating or deactivating preexisting genes within the cell, which cause the cell to develop slightly differently. The cells intelligently learn from the past generations’ successes and failures, and they follow a survival of the fittest principle where only the most successful genes continue to be activated and move forward to the coming generations (The Wonder of Science 2017).

The factors that affect an organism’s morphogenesis at a mathematical level all fall under the umbrella of the metabolic rate of the cell. All multicellular organisms begin their growth towards the goal of energy efficiency and survival. Their cells contain information from previous generations that can predict the type of environment they are in and the sources of energy they can utilize, and as such, the cells reproduce and grow towards the most survivable and energy efficient form possible (Banavar et al. 2014).

The metabolic rate of most organisms, both plants and animals, roughly follows the approximation B ~ M3/4, where B is the basal metabolic rate of the organism and M is its mass. The ¾ exponent generally tends to appear frequently in the study of metabolism and organic growth, and is generally found to be the idealized metabolic rate – mass relationship exponent independently of the geometry of the organism.