Forcing biological sciences into architectural design:On conceptual confusions in the field of biomimetic architecture

• 作者: Louis Vitalis Natasha Chayaamor-Heil
• 来源期刊: 建筑学研究前沿（英文版）
• 年，卷（期）: 2022,（4）
• 所属期刊栏目: INDEX
• 页码范围: 179-190
• 页数: 12页
• 语种: 英文

摘要

Certain confusion may be observed in the field of biomimetic architecture,as it emerges at the crossroad of two disciplinary domains:architectural design and biological sci-ences.If biomimetics is defined as a science,once it is applied to architecture,biomimetic ar-chitecture should logically be defined as a science too.This assertion collides with the nature of architectural design,which may rather be defined as a technology:its aim is to transform the world,not to explain it.On the one hand,there is no obvious relationship between archi-tecture and life sciences.On the other hand,the biomimetic approach tends to redefine the concept of science itself by seeking to avoid the excesses of scientism.Moreover,existing ap-plications of biomimetic design show that it is difficult to observe a genuine biomimetic archi-tecture;most cases are closer to engineering component or urban planning and sometimes they involve little or no life sciences.The aim of this paper is to describe this conceptual confusion through two movements called"forcings",occurring between design and science.These forcings are conceptualised as shifts between constructed scientific objects and given empirical objects.Models,used in biology as in architecture,allow these shifts by virtue of their double function.They are both tools for knowledge and for design,thus they may be conceptually forced into what they are not supposed to be,particularly in the field of biomi-metic architecture where design process and scientific knowledge are said to meet.