With Everybody trapped inside their houses due to pandemic, humans have got a break to sit and look around. Humans have got time to learn and correct their lifestyles and principles. Sitting at home Nature can prove to be easily accessible and one great teacher. As architects are creators of spaces and life within those spaces, they require several good skills and principles to give their best. Nature can teach various such things and offer good guidance to the architects. Let’s take a look at what can we, architects, learn from nature :
1. Resilience:
Resilience means the capacity to recover quickly from any difficulty and grow stronger. The ecological systems around us have proven their ability to sustain any kind of hardship that comes along their way. May it be a harsh storm or an extremely dry climate, nature has always found a way to outgrow the difficulty. Architects can learn to be resilient and grow stronger through any hardships that come their way.
2. Adaption:
Adaption towards surroundings can be seen in nature and its elements at all levels. We can take an example of the plants, even if the space is small and dark they find a way out to grow. The quality and dimensions of space don’t stop them from growing. Even that small space or maybe a little opening is enough for them to bloom. Plants also adapt to the climatic conditions around or the soil in which they are planted but never do they stop growing. Nature will always find its way towards life by adapting to the conditions around it. Architecture is a profession that requires this quality the most. The designs are required to adapt to the surroundings and the people in which the site is located. Architects not only have to take care of the cultural merger but also are required to adapt to the climatic conditions of the site. Materials choice should be done keeping in mind the availability of the same in that particular region.
3. Evolution:
Evolution means the process of change in the form or a sort of gradual development. Human beings are a great example of evolution. Nature is continuously evolving. So should architects design. Architects, while designing, should keep in mind that the structure is going to face changes. Space should transform according to these changes. For example, the user of the particular house will have changes in his lifestyle with a growing family or change in the financial state. With that, the owner will have changing requirements. So the house should have a certain small edge that can transform and evolve to match these requirements.
4. Patience:
Patience is the most practised principle of the environment. May it be the process of growth of a plant from a small seed to a tree, or any baby of any living being. Any process requires a considerable amount of patience. Even for an architect’s work to reach its completion requires one to be patient and steady. Every Architect should keep this in mind while designing.
5. Mutualism:
Mutualism means collaboration between individuals. Such co – operations benefit both sides. It is exchanging skills and requirements amongst each other to meet the needs of one another. Everything part of nature is interdependent and so are human beings. Architects should be aware of this fact.
6. Balance:
Nature proves to be a perfect example of a balance between its elements. It can teach an architect a proper distribution of visual weights, texture, colour, and space.
7. Optimization :
Nature has used its elements to gain maximum performance in structure and design. We can learn the way nature has used its lightweight materials to gain strength and keep things in place. We can also look at the topology when it means study of how creatures grow. One can explore such features of nature and can benefit from it to get aesthetic and functional designs.
8. Form and material :
Take spider’s silk, which is known for its strength, or the Namibian beetle, which climbs up the dunes at night, radiating its body heat, or we can also look at orange and its skin. These examples and their working are quite a fascinating lesson to study and apply in man build structures. Biomimicry in architecture imitates such forms, models, or systems in nature to solve complex human problems.
9. Source of inspiration:
The environment around us can prove to be a great source of inspiration for Architects. It can not just inspire us but also can prove to be great guidance in colours, shapes, and sizes. Many architects have found their design inspiration from elements of nature.
10. Community Sense :
Have you seen any two branches of a tree, fighting for space and growth? No. Nature can teach us the crucial value of co-existing and community sense. Like each branch of a tree, learn to grow and make space by adjusting its path and not disturbing the other, even humans can. Architects can learn to encourage each other and can help one another grow and achieve. One’s success won’t take away the chance of others. Helping and growing as one community will benefit each and every individual and this should be kept in mind.
