Proto-Architecture and Unconventional Biomaterials II

Dear Colleagues,

Leaving the domain of simulation in virtual space, bioinspired and biologically driven architectures are increasingly part of the production of architecture. The idea of creating architectural typologies inspired by and functioning according to natural and biological principles is not just aesthetically intriguing but also sustainably promising. The convergence of material properties, and embedded natural and artificial intelligence, with biological and/or digital manufacturing methods may lead to adaptive structural “thinking” geometries. Digital morphogenesis, first mentioned during the “First Digital Turn” in architecture (Kolarevic, 2000), is a form-generating method using advanced digital tools. Two decades later, digital morphogenesis has engaged with design processes of material computation and biomimetics, biological morphogenesis, and cognitive materials transformed into built architecture using digital fabrication methods, partly driven by algorithms—including pattern recognition or physics engines. The shift from top-down to bottom-up design strategies has radically changed our understanding of architecture. In 1917, Wentworth D’Arcy Thompson suggested that form is a result of internal material behavior and external parameters; however, we suggest that proto-architecture emerges from the cybernetic ecology of unconventional biomaterials, construction methods, and cognition.

This Special Issue aims at approaching the topic through the application of the biological, digital, structural, and social alike, resulting in spatial geometry. Biological here refers to the cognitive (maturana) organic, inorganic, living, and nonliving. We invite scientists, architects, engineers, and artists to reboot architecture by submitting stimulating and visionary original research and articles—both protoarchitectural and technologically viable—to start understanding the knowledge and possibilities in this field.

Prof. Dr. Liss C. Werner
Prof. Dr. Andrew Adamatzky
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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