What is the architect doing in the jungle? Biornametics.

What is the architect doing in the jungle? How can architects and natural scientists immerse themselves in a fruitful dialogue to generate new insights for cross-disciplinary innovation? This volume contributes to the current discussion of arts-based research with the interdisciplinary research project BiornaMetics – Architecture Defined By Natural Patterns. Biornametics is an emerging contemporary design practice which explores a new methodology that interconnects scientific evidence with creative design in the field of architecture. The word biornametics is generated from “ornament”, referring to the famous Austrian architect Adolf Loos, and biomimetics. It concentrates on the detection of the principles behind processes of emerging and dissolving patterns in animate and inanimate nature. Reflections on the architectural direction of Biornametics, issues of arts and science collaboration, and the application of the methodology show a diverse world of thoughts and approaches to the topic.

BARBARA IMHOF is the editor, project lead and an architect at LIQUIFER Systems Group, Vienna, Austria. Barbara Imhof has a background in architecture, having studied at the Vienna University of Technology VUT, Bartlett School UCL, London, and graduated from the Angewandte (Academy of Applied Arts Studio Wolf D. Prix). She additionally holds a Master of Science from the International Space University in Strasbourg, France and a PhD in space architecture from VUT. She taught at the VUT (assistant professor 8 years), the ETH Zürich and Chalmers University in Gothenburg, among others. Her background combines artistic training with scientific education. She has lived in various places in Europe and the U.S.A. where she is integrated in large networks. She founded LIQUIFER Systems Group, a platform of experts from different backgrounds (engineering, science, architecture, design) collaborating on R&D projects. She has led some of these research projects, e.g. “ISS-Sleep-Kit – Design for a sleeping bag for astronauts” and “RAMA – Rover for Advanced Mission Applications”. Barbara Imhof also runs her own broadcast in the cultural section of Radio Orange 94.0. Recently, she received the Polar Star Award from the Austrian Space Forum for outreach activities in 2011 and the FEM-Tech award for research and technology in 2012.

PETRA GRUBER is the editor, co-project lead and an architect at transarch, Vienna, Austria. Petra Gruber completed her PhD in Biomimetics in Architecture in 2008. She has extensive experience in carrying out biomimetic design projects, was a research fellow at the Centre for Biomimetics at the University of Reading, UK in 2007. She has taught as a guest professor at the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts, and wasAssistant Professor at the Department for Design and Building Construction at the Vienna University of Technology for eight years, where she set up the TU Bionik Center of Excellence. Petra Gruber is currently working on biomimetics and trans-discplinary projects with her own company transarch, in collaboration with an international network of scientists. She teaches Biomimetics in Energy Systems at the University of Applied Sciences in Villach, Austria, at the Department for History of Architecture and Building Archaeology at the VUT and also holds lectures and workshops internationally. She published the book “Biomimetics in Architecture: Architecture of Life and Buildings” in 2011.