MAD Architects have designed a tower and hotel to be built in Beijing inspired by the honeycomb nature of beehives. What seems like an undulating facade from far away is actually a regular grid of equally sized hexagons but with …
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQukt36Gew0&hl=en_US&fs=1&] The History Channel challenged architects to create a vision for future infrastructure in major cities around the world. Xefirotarch submitted the above video for their vision of Los Angeles with help from film studio Imaginary Forces. We admit its …
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GyBtuUf1sf4&hl=en_US&fs=1&] Our good friend Dennis Dollens talks at a TEDx event about the current trends in biomimicry and its application to architecture. Check out Dennis’s work here, he currently teaches bio-digital architecture at ESAQ Barcelona.
Designboom featured a Prague Academy of Arts tent design by Ondrej Vaclavik inspired by the vein structure of leaves. Below are some more renderings and illustrations of the project.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nAMrtHC2Ev0&hl=en_US&fs=1&] Rachael Armstrong explains at TED how shes trying to establish a system based bottom up architecture made from living materials in conversation with the environment rather than the traditional model that takes natural materials in a dead and static …
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PyBR3PDPa-c&hl=en_US&fs=1&] Amazing new concept: concrete that’s embedded with bacterial and nutrient spheres alongside traditional aggregate that once exposed to distress or cracks in the concrete expand to fill it up with calcium carbonate, much like the way bones constantly self-heal …
Sir Norman Foster’s Gherkin Tower is a very well known building on its own, but many fail to realize its famous hexagonal skin was inspired by the Venus Flower Basket Sponge. This special sponge hosts a lattice-like exoskeleton that appears …
Chimera design team has designed a spiraling skyscraper solution for New York City inspired by the Mangrove Tree habitat. SuckerPUNCH did a profile of their project named Mangalcity here as well as Inhabitat here. Both great posts with lots of …
ARTEKS architecture from Andorra have recently designed an outdoor shading system inspired by the local trees observed on site. Inhabitat did an excellent post about their project here with plenty of detail. ARTEKS took a very sculputral approach to the …
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tNI37ncgdXQ&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0] Its a well known fact that world renowned architect and engineer Santiago Calatrava‘s formost teacher in design has been nature. Granted his approach isn’t very systematic like other examples we’ve seen in more progressive naturally-inspired projects, its still worth …
