The 2018 report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has made clear that, to achieve the international goal of holding the average surface temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius, global emissions of greenhouse gases must be halved by 2030, and reach net zero by around the middle of the century. That is a transformative task of unprecedented proportions. It is made even greater by the need to tackle simultaneously a series of other worsening – and inter-related – global environmental problems, including biodiversity loss, soil degradation, and air and marine pollution, as documented in the 2019 reports of the UN Environment Programme and the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services and discussed at the 2019 G7 Biarritz Summit.
November 2019 – Levels of heat-trapping greenhouse gases in the atmosphere have reached another new record high, according to the World Meteorological Organization. This continuing long-term trend means that future generations will be confronted with increasingly severe impacts of climate change, including rising temperatures, more extreme weather, water stress, sea level rise and disruption to marine and land ecosystems. Concentrations represent what remains in the atmosphere after the complex system of interactions between the atmosphere, biosphere, lithosphere, cryosphere and the oceans. About a quarter of the total emissions is absorbed by the oceans and another quarter by the biosphere.
URBAN BY NATURE
An eco-philosophical synthesis of the common principles of biology, engineering and architecture, applied to the future development of human habitats in harmony with both progress and nature.
Designing and developing a bio-ecological urban structure is based on flexibility principles and biological structures, its height, capacity and use can be adapted to the different economic, environmental and social conditions.
Implementing large scale nature-based solutions have the potential to limit impacts of climate change, enhance biodiversity and improve environmental quality while contributing to economic activities and social well-being. Ecological design and engineering, resource-efficient and systemic solutions that combine technical and social innovation limit impacts of climate change, enhance biodiversity and improve environmental quality while contributing to economic activities and social well-being.
Buildings are no more meant to be singular or fixed bodies but have to be understood as complex energy and material systems that are a part of the environment of other active systems. Structural and technological elevations like artificial intelligence, information & bio science/technology, material science and biomimetic engineering supporting the design and develop revolutionary architecture and infrastructure.
Fractal bio-structures based on a common idea: the fractal micro-fragmentation of complex dynamic systems. Flexibility, sustainability, reactivity, community integration, and smart systems (including automated recycling). These buildings have a dynamic network of feedback loops characterized by intelligent materials, sensors, data exchange, and automated intelligent systems that merge together, virtually functioning as a synthetic and highly sensitive nervous system.
There is no line between material and structure in nature as the essence of any is the microscopic structure and it is almost impossible to differentiate structure and material in natural organisms. Materials in nature are used efficiently in complicated forms. Imitating this process, rapid prototyping in architecture emulates the layer by layer deposition of materials in a hierarchical structure to improve materials’ efficiency. Created surfaces using rapid prototyping manufacturing technology can also be regarded as bio-inspired materials.
COMPLETELY MODULAR AND DESIGNED TO BE SHIFTED, TRANSFORMED.
Advanced intelligent materials incorporate the notion of information as well as physical indexes such as strength and durability. This higher-level function or intelligence is achieved through the systematic corporation of various individual functions. As a result, intelligent materials exhibit a self-control capability whereby they are not only able to sense and respond to various external stimuli but conduct this response in a regulated manner. This inherent intelligent adaptability of natural materials and states that their outstanding mechanical properties are a consequence of their highly organized hierarchical structure, which is omnipresent at all levels (length scales) of the material.
As biomimicry (imitating organisms’ functions, structures, and processes) mainly focuses at the micro- and macroscale levels of imitation, nanotechnology can also be considered as a type of biomimetic design method focusing at nanoscale level of imitation. Bio-inspired nanostructured materials are founded as nanocomposites (a mixture of conventional materials with nanomaterials) or as nano-engineered materials both structurally modified at nanoscale level. Macro-, micro-, or nano-scales of imitation ultimately contribute to the energy efficiency of buildings and environmental-friendly construction. According to different stimulus-response, advanced intelligent materials are able to reversibly change their properties.
IMAGEN, a ‘natural’ city, living and breathing structures operate as a seasonally adaptive collective of interconnected and interdependent shape-shifting, color changing, a dynamic architecture, that is sensitive to the surroundings, fused to form a complex adaptive system in sync with the Earth’s natural processes. The city’s relationship with nature would be hand-in-glove, wherein ecosystem services and man-made bionic technologies engaged in symbiotic relationships spanning from the molecular to the metropolis in scale. Layers with different lifespans, which includes the facade and primary fit-out walls, finishes, with its own energy systems (micro-wind, solar PV paint and algae facade for producing biofuels). A building membrane to convert CO2 to oxygen; heat recovery surfaces; materials that phase change and repair themselves; seamless integration with the rest of the city. The exterior membrane, inspired by the qualities of transpiration and resistance in nature, allows the controlled passage of natural air and light to the interior complex, creating a micro-climate and contributing efficiently to the general flexibility and stability of the complex. The exterior fractal structure also helps to reduce wind push.
The building of the future meets personal needs, gathers information from the environment and reacts to contextual clues.