Wynn Earl

Discourse Summary:

It would seem that since humanity first began building settlements and creating tools that it has been marching tenaciously upon a path of progress. This thesis considers biomimicry as one such progressive trend, and aims to examine its validity and relevance, particularly as it relates to architecture. Establishment of validity will be accomplished through examination of its historical context, definition of its typologies and methodologies, taxonomic categorization of its terminology, a discussion of its contemporary portrayal, provision of a series of illustrative examples to augment the observations offered, and experimentation through implementation of a biomimetic design methodology. These observations, characterizations, experiments, and conclusions, are discussed through conceptual consideration of how “second nature” and humanities innate biophilic tendencies have given rise to biomimetic architectural methodologies and through carefully articulated examination of the point and mode of methodological translation of biological principles.