Advanced Materials Research Vols.

671-674 (2013) pp 2174-2179 Online: 2013-03-11

© (2013) Trans Tech Publications, Switzerland
doi:10.4028/www.scientific.net/AMR.671-674.2174

Biological NanoArchitecture
Architecture in the Age of Biomaterials
Maged Elsamny
16, Omarat Eldoubat, Roushdy, Alexandria, Egypt.
magedelsamny@gmail.com

Keywords: Biotechnology, Nanotechnology, Biomaterials, Green Buildings, Biological Architecture

Abstract. Biological NanoArchitecture is to build natural spaces that contribute to the

biological-system and integrated with the surrounding environment, and as healthy as the womb for
an embryo to grow. It should have a positive effect on the health of its occupants while enriching the
ecosystem of the planet by consuming zero resources and producing zero waste.
In this paper, I will try to introduce the myriad potentials of advanced technologies in the 21st century
to architects and builders. Advances in Biotechnology and Nanotechnology will change the way we
think, design and construct our buildings, and transform our inorganic buildings into synthetic
organic structures that can behave like living species and merge with the biological cycle of the
planet. This change of thinking can be achieved through adopting bionic systems in our buildings and
mimicking nature the way it builds life forms. After 3.8 million years of evolution, it’s nature that
does it best to adapt for survival, and the more our buildings look and function like natural systems,
the more we are likely to find solutions to our contemporary global problems like overpopulation and
climate change. This requires that we should look at nature as a source of learning and inspiration
rather than a source of materials and energy.

Introduction:
Adapting a biological approach to our buildings is not an easy task for architects, nor a new one.
Humans started to build homes for shelter from wild animals and the extremes of weather. Man
started with refuging in caves; which as part of nature didn’t cause any environmental disorders to its
surroundings, nor to the planet as a whole. However, when man developed tools to adapt to the
environment, we started to use the affordable technologies and materials in nature that we can utilize
to build our homes instead of finding a refuge, hence, the history of humanity is named according to
the materials and technologies that man used at these times. From Stone Age, to the 20th century, we
tried to mimic nature not only in building homes, but also in simple everyday tools or science, and
with every new material discovered, the technology we use develops. While the past century was
dominated by the flow of information, and advances in physics, electronics and communication, this
coming era is considered to be the biological and nanotechnological revolution.

The bio-nanotechnology revolution:

Architecture is not far from these technological inventions. The new architectural trends are
reflections of technological advances. NanoArchitecture for example is a new trend of architecture;
using nanotechnology to produce nanomaterials with custom properties according to the architect
design and desires. Nanotechnology will provide the architect with abundant solutions to fight
climate change and increasing greenhouse gas emissions, this will change how we build and design
our buildings with less reliance on natural resources and better efficiency.
The fundamental problem that we currently design buildings as barriers to the environment
and not as proactively beneficial environmental technology now needs to be addressed. To do this
effectively we must start to develop architectural paradigms and technologies that cooperate with
and embrace, rather than dominate, natural imperatives. [1]

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 Advanced Materials Research Vols. 671-674 2175

However, the recent advances in biotechnology has enabled us to manipulate and modify
living systems with improvements in health monitoring, disease control, and therapeutic and
prosthetic options, and they have even given rise to the possibilities of designed organisms. These
advances in biotechnology will extend beyond factories, research centers influencing architecture.
Biotechnology, made it possible now to detect diseases, treat them, and in some cases, create a
completely new cell. This will open a new direction to the development of technologies and its
relation to not just our everyday life but also architecture. By using biological technologies in
architecture, we will be able to construct buildings the way nature does.

The Biomimicry Revolution:

Biomimicry (from bios, meaning life, and

mimesis, meaning to imitate) is a discipline that studies
nature's best ideas and then imitates these designs and
processes to solve human problems. [2]
In a society accustomed to dominating or “improving”
nature, this respectful imitation is a radically new
approach, a revolution really. Unlike the Industrial
Revolution, the Biomimicry Revolution introduces an
era based not on what we can extract from nature, but
on what we can learn from her. In a biomimetic world,
we would manufacture the way animals and plants do,
using sun and simple compounds to produce totally
biodegradable fibers, ceramics, plastics, and chemicals.
[3]
Adapting biology can involve copying the complete
appearance and function of specific creatures like the
many toys found in toy stores. However, while we have
copied or adapted many of nature‘s solutions, an
enormous number of mysteries remain unraveled.
Humans have learned a lot from nature and the results
help surviving generations and continue to secure a
sustainable future. [4]
Many technologies are currently in use or being
developed that are bio-mimetic in nature and will
contribute to making the living building possible. [5]
Fig.01: A concert hall proposal conceived by
Philip H. Wilck. The project for a Concert
Hall at the Stadtpark in Vienna rethinks the
concept of a concert hall through the
architectural emsemble of different
geometrical and material configurations that
offer the opportunity for a multilayered and
complex music experience. The system
includes central positioned classical,
symmetric concert hall geometry, and two
areas created as sound shells related to
biological shell geometries (biomimicry)
such as an ear or a muscle structure. Other
elements provide spaces and areas for a fully
energy self-sufficient building through host
interaction and active materials.. Image
courtsey evolo magazine (www.evolo.us)

Systems Architecture:

Using the systems architecture model, which

can be seen as similar to systems architecture in
computer science (CS), the built environment (or the
system in CS) becomes integrated with the natural
world (the hardware) and a series of networks or
functions that are orchestrated through organizing
hubs of activity and computation (the software).
This radical departure from traditional architectural
perspectives enables architects to consider the built
environment as a series of interconnected networks Fig.02: Shi Ling bridge, Tonkin Liu Architects
with embedded links to natural systems. The (Structural engineer Ed Clark of Arup). Image
architectural subject of interest moves away from courtsey of Tonkin Lin Architects
simple, inert objects to what is happening at the site
of the hubs of activity in the systems architecture model.
2176 Construction and Urban Planning

For architectural purposes, these theoretical events need to be embodied, and the practice of
systems architecture requires them to possess a materiality. Materials with organizing capabilities
that are able to function as hubs within this new model do not exist currently in architectural
practice. Systems architecture anticipates the development of a new set of materials that possess the
ability to connect nonliving (traditional) structures with vital structures (e.g., nature or the products
of living technologies or NBIC technologies) The theoretical organizing nature of these materials
implies that they are likely to exhibit some of the properties of living matter such as self-
organization, responsiveness, growth, or movement, and would essentially constitute a new
generation of smart materials. Unlike contemporary smart materials, these speculative organizing
systems would possess embodied complexity, be capable of chemical computation, and not need to
rely on traditional computing methods or human intervention to generate their responsiveness. [6]

Nanobio Machines and Nanorobots:

The recent explosion of research in nanotechnology, combined with important discoveries in

molecular biology, has created a new interest in biomolecular machines and robots. The main goal
in the field of biomolecular machines is to use various biological elements — whose function at the
cellular level creates motion, force, or a signal, or stores information — as machine components.
These components perform their preprogrammed biological function in response to the specific
physiochemical stimuli but in an artificial setting. In this way proteins and DNA could act as
motors, mechanical joints, transmission elements, or sensors. If all these different components were
assembled together in the proper proportion and orientation, they would form nanodevices with
multiple degrees of freedom, able to apply forces, and manipulate objects in the nano-scale world.
The advantage of using nature’s machine components is that they are highly efficient (Kinosita et
al., 2000) and reliable. Just as conventional macro-machines are used to generate forces and
motions to accomplish specific tasks, bionanomachines can be used to manipulate nano-objects to
assemble and fabricate other machines or products and to perform maintenance, repair, and
inspection operations. [4]
The ultimate goal of nanobiotechnology is the production of functional biological-relevant
machines at the nano-scale. Such machines should be able to replace micro-surgery by using sub-
micrometer precision of surgical procedures. One can envision the engineering of tiny robots that
will have cellular dimensions of microns and actual surgical scalpels with sub-micromic
dimensions. Such micro/nanosurgery robots could revolutionize the field of neurosurgery by
allowing a very accurate manipulation of the damaged tissue as in brain tumors or damaged blood
vessels without affecting the healthy tissue. Complicated brain surgery procedures, that often end in
serious and irreversible complications, may be performed by such nano-robots. [7]

Some bio-nanorobots can be conceived as able to manufacture additional elements and various
structures. There may also be robots that not only perform physical labor, but also sense the
environment and react accordingly. There is no doubt that biomedical applications will be both a
driving force and a beneficiary of these developments. [4]

Energy:

Perhaps the oldest of the bio-mimetic technologies are photovoltaics, otherwise known as
PV. Photovoltaics are a solid state technology that directly converts solar radiation into electricity
that can be stored or used on demand while producing no pollution. While many people might
remember the technology as clunky, expensive panels that gained prominence in the seventies, the
technology has advanced considerably in recent years becoming more efficient and able to integrate
seamlessly into architecture. Where before solar panels were placed on top of roofs they can now
serve as the roof membrane themselves, replacing conventional metal roofs or shingles. Transparent
PV panels are also being developed that can be used as windows and skylights allowing daylight to
enter a building while still generating electricity. This technological "multi-tasking" is integral to
bio-mimetic technologies that often do more than one job at a time. Photovoltaics will play an
increasingly important role in buildings of the future. [5]
 Advanced Materials Research Vols. 671-674 2177

Green Chemistry leads us to green buildings:

Green chemistry, also called sustainable chemistry, is a philosophy of chemical research and
engineering that encourages the design of products and processes that minimize the use and
generation of hazardous substances. It seeks to reduce and prevent pollution at its source with focus
on industrial applications. The focus is on minimizing the hazard and maximizing the efficiency of
any chemical choice.
Paul Anastas, then of the United States Environmental Protection Agency, and John C. Warner
developed 12 principles of green chemistry, which help to explain what the definition means in
practice. The principles cover such concepts as: [8]
• The design of processes to maximize the amount of raw material that ends up in the product;
• The use of safe, environment-benign substances, including solvents, whenever possible;
• The design of energy efficient processes;
• The best form of waste disposal: not to create it in the first place.

Protocells:

Protocells are the transition stage towards the creation of fully artificial cells using a bottom-up
approach to their assembly, and are an essential part of the discovery of living processes rather than
the goal. Protocells, as a chemical technology – rather than an ideological model and an
embodiment of an alternative to life – do exist, and these
dichotomies of existence or non-existence
are part of the dualistic, industrial paradigm that currently besets
the practice of science as technology and is one which protocells
inherently resist.
The protocell is a technology that is native to the 21st century and
is likely to define it. Indeed, we will be so bold to go as far as to
say that the protocell model that engages with living processes is
the first technology that can challenge the top-down imperatives
of DNA, the information-processing system of biology, in an
experimental way. Its mere existence is extraordinarily profound
as it strikes at the core of dominant ideologies and tyrannical
dogmas about our identity that have been confined to the
chemistry of a single, sophisticated chemical that has shaped our
engagement with living systems and the environment throughout
the latter part of the 20th century, necessitating blueprints,
hierarchical systems of organization, determinism and atomic-
scale precision. [1]

Protocell as dynamic structure:

Fig.03: IwamotoScott
The protocell project asks how architecture can respond at Architecture with Buro Happold
a cellular level to such conditions as environment, gravity and Engineers, Voussoir Cloud,
structure. Protocells – chemical and solid state agents that respond SCIArc Gallery, Los Angeles,
in a biological manner – typically exist at nano and molecular 2008. Internal view of Voussoir
scales, and are often generated in liquid. This allows them to Cloud vaulted construction.
circumvent gravitational conditions as well as aggregate without Image courtsey of Lisa Iwamoto.
concern for larger-scale, hierarchical structure. A driving concern
for Line Array (2010) was how to envision protocell modality suitable for architecture that could be
applied to a range of structural surface formations. Protocells are used here as a self-organizing
structural matrix. In particular, the project speculates on how materials might behave
morphologically to varying surface geometries in a fluid and responsive manner.
2178 Construction and Urban Planning

Structure depends on the interdependency of geometry and material. Historically, architects have
employed geometrically defined elements such as vaults, domes, thin shells, tensile membranes and
cable nets to unite surface structure with material. These systems maximize material behavior
through the purity of the structural diaphragm. In contrast to typologies based on uniform,
symmetrical form, contemporary analysis and design techniques can adapt material systems to
address variable, localized and non-symmetrical loading conditions. This has opened up the
possibilities for at once muddying and synthesizing geometry, structure and material performance.
[9]

Hydrogenase:

Vincent Callebaut has created a far-future concept for airships fueled by a specific type of
seaweed. These organisms would produce not oxygen but dihydrogen through photosynthesis,
hence the name of the concept 'Hydrogenase'. Vincent envisions these 400-meter tall ships to not
only function as passenger transportation, but also as floating buildings such as hospitals. They
would be able to move at 175km/h by means of twenty wind propellors. The ships would
furthermore be provided with an intelligent skin that incorporates nano-technologies to make it self-
cleaning and self-repairing. [10]

Fig.05: Hydrogenase are passanger transportation and can also function as floating buildings.

Redefining architecture:

It may be possible to redefine the function of architecture as a discipline which enables

people to build spaces which have a physically positive effect on living things. This craft has been
rediscovered time and again throughout recorded history, and awareness of the deeply fascinating
connections between the animate and the inanimate is once again demanding our attention.

Summary:

Based on these technological advances in biotechnology, nanotechnology and biomimicry,

our homes and buildings will be designed to function like living species. Buildings will become an
integral part of the surrounding nature; the energy, materials, air, and water will flow in a cycle
between the buildings and the environment, merging with the global environmental system like
living organisms taking the concept of sustainability and cradle to cradle to another level towards
biological integration. This new architecture will solve many issues facing architects in the 21st
century; climate change for example can be stopped as buildings –as if trees- will not produce
emissions rather will be able to absorb harmful gases in the air and produce other gases to balance
 Advanced Materials Research Vols. 671-674 2179

atmosphere. Architects and builders should change the way they think of nature and consider it as a
source of learning, looking closer to natural systems from the micro to the macro scale and adapt
biological methods of natural systems.

References:

[1] Spiller, Neil and Armstrong, Rachel. Protocell Architecture. Architectural Design. 2011, Vol.
210.

[2] Biomimcry, Institute of. What is Biomimcry? Institute of Biomimcry.[Cited: April 10, 2011.]
http://www.biomimicryinstitute.org/about-us/what-is-biomimicry.html.

[3] Benyus, Janine B. Biomimicry: Innovations Inspired by Nature. HarperCollins, 2002.

[4] Bar-Cohen, Yoseph. Biomimetics: biologically inspired technologies. CRC/Taylor & Francis,
2006.

[5] The Living Building: Biomimicry in Architecture, Integrating Technology with Nature. Berkebile,
Bob and McLennan, Jason. p. 8.

[6] Systems Architecture: Model for Sustainability and the Built Environment using Nanotechnology,
Biotechnology, Information Technology, and Cognitive Science with Living Technology. Armstrong,
Rachel. 2010, Artificial Life.

[7] Gazit, Ehud. Plenty of Room for Biology at the Bottom: An Introduction to Bionanotechnology.
Imperial College Press, 2007.

[8] Contributors, Wikipedia. Green Chemistry. Wikipedia. [Cited: October 24, 2012.]
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Green_chemistry&oldid=505357188.

[9] Iwamoto, Lisa. Protocell Architecture. Architecture Design. 2011, pp. 113-121.

[10] Zoontjens, Ralph. Biological Architecture. Create Your Cosmos. 2011. [Cited: October 23,
2012.] http://createyourcosmos.blogspot.com/2011/09/biological-architecture.html.
Construction and Urban Planning
10.4028/www.scientific.net/AMR.671-674

Biological NanoArchitecture: Architecture in the Age of Biomaterials

10.4028/www.scientific.net/AMR.671-674.2174