Swarm City: An emerging transdisciplinary Architecture

an

Swarm City: emerging tranSdiSCiplinary arChiteCture.

By Sinead Cameron

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Swarm City: An emerging transdisciplinary architecture.

By Sinead Cameron

Acknowledgements I would like to thank my dissertation supervisor Greg keefe, for, showing a genuine interest and engagement into my thesis, offering support and help with research material.

Finally, I must express my gratitude to my friends and family for providing me with unfailing support and continuous encouragement throughout the process of researching and writing this thesis. This accomplishment would not have been possible without them.

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AbstrAct: The city is changing, it is moving away from traditional notions of being a purely aesthetic creation, which relies heavily on a top-down approach to design. An approach that proceeds to try to dictate how cities ultimately function, ignoring site-specific conditions and focusing primarily on defined spatial arrangements, density and form.

In order for design to evolve, it must understand that cities, much like any static natural organism are defined by how it responds to its context and the environmental conditions that this context exerts. Cities should be seen as a system of energy distribution between the ever-changing climate and the inhabitants that use them.

The way we see cities should shift towards the understanding that they have an intrinsic metabolism and that they are living, breathing super organisms that match natural organisms in both depth and complexity.

The ecosystem that we inhabit has had millions of years to develop intricate strategies of self-organization that are resilient to environmental change. Emerging discoveries drawn from how natural biological systems employ strategies of self-organization and adapt to their environment could prove immensely significant to the architectural profession, and in particular how this emerging knowledge that understands the ways in which natural structures swarm and organize themselves can be applied to the design of cities. This idea of combining natural and artificial principles of design and organization has the potential to possibly produce architectural systems that are as harmonious and responsive to their context with that of a living biological system.

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contents: Acknowledgements -4 AbstrAct -5 chApter 1: IntroductIon-9 1:1 An emerging paradigm shift - 10 1:2 Methodology -11 1:3 Structure - 12

chApter 2:

form

follows

process-14

2:1 Beyond Biomimicy -15 2: 2 Form - 16 2:3 Process - 23

chApter 3:

the

cIty

As

A

superorgAnIsm-32

3:1 The city as a network of biological processes-33 3:2 Metabolism of a city-35 3:3 Swarm city-40

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ContentS: chAper 4: AmAlgAmAtIons

of

technology

And

bIology.-

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4:1: Slime network - 45 4:2 Environment as co-designer - 54

chAper 5: conclusIon -74 bIblIogrAphy-80 lIst

of

ImAges-86

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chApter 1: IntroductIon

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1.1: An emergIng pArAdIgm shIft. Architecture is undergoing profound changes. An interdisciplinary exchange of work methodologies are ever-increasing between the fields of biology, engineering and physics discoveries in these fields are starting to be employed by artists and designers. (Cruz and Pike, 2008). Giving rise to hybrid technologies, that are effectively blurring the boundaries between the natural and the technological. Alluring to a future where unrestrained nature and engineered technology coalesce into the unimaginable, a future in which they become indistinguishable from each other.

There has been a paradigm shift in the field of biology over the last 25 years. As new scientific evidence emerges that change our perception and understanding of how biological systems function. This has opened up a profound understanding of the ecosystem and introduced us to new revelations into how natural processes self-organize (Asla.org, 2017). In our life time there has been a shift towards understanding the ecosystem we inhabit as being flexible, resilient and open-ended away from a mechanistic model of stability and control. Change is fundamental in all living systems they are open systems that behave in ways that deliberately avoid equilibrium, they are constantly changing, dynamic and to a certain extent unpredictable. All ecosystems need to perpetually evolve in order to survive and this is frequently displayed in ways that are disparate and discontinuous.

Natural Systems that are recognized by us as being stable are only seen in this way due to our time-limited perception of stasis.

Biology- related themes saturate the media with language such a, plastic surgery, cloning, genetic engineering being transposed into the everyday.(Cruz and Pike, 2008) And yet architecture, especially when it is accepted as being solely concerned with the built environment is set in a context that is disparate and fundamentally set apart from emerging phenomena in these other fields.

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If the architectural profession wants to develop at the same pace as other disciplines, it must completely rethink its perceived parameters with regard to both professional practice and education. (Cruz, 2008) it must undergo a change that is not only responds to the way in which we view our body in relation to time and space, but moreover asks the question; how are architects going to respond to a potential future, made up of semi living amalgamations of technology?

A future that could see buildings that are hybridized with biological matter that respond to the changing landscape in ways they are characterized as being essentially unpredictable. How will designers react when a final artefact is never reached? How will we define the Architectural profession when design, must involve an understanding of programming, control and maintenance of cellular constructs and their genetic make-up, as they grow evolve and eventually mutate to optimize space and function?

1:2 methodology

Biological systems found in nature have refined themselves over a millennia to elegantly optimize their internal processes allowing them to adapt and self-organize in a direct response to their external context.

This dissertation aims to demonstrate that in order for the way we design cities to evolve. It is imperative that we draw from this incredible database of knowledge to inform our own design tactics, and potentially give rise to solutions that tackle emerging and intensifying environmental and spatial problems that architects must address.

The methodological approach for this dissertation was first to understand the underlying processes and systems within natural organisms.

The question then once I summarised my research available through recent scientific journals and papers and especially the natural organisational systems described in Steven Johnson’s book, ‘Emergence’, (2006), was how could I apply this within an architectural context?

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1:3 structure In chapter 2 I outline examples of architecture taking inspiration from the forms and processes found in nature and argue using the work of Frei Otto as an example of why biologically intelligent to understand the underlying processes found in nature that ultimately create an optimal form, than to take purely aesthetic inspiration from natural forms.

In chapter 3 I draw comparisons between a super organism and a city as stated in ‘UEM: the vestige city’: “our urban environments exhibit form and intricate organic systems that rival nature in their depth and complexity.” (Keeffe et al., 2012, p.88). Arguing that successful cities exhibit characteristics as that of a super organism, however in their conception they are treated in the planning stage as static objects, so why can’t strategies that design using processes found in natural super-organisms be deployed?

In the final chapter I look at cases studies which use organisms such as slime mould and photosensitive cyanobacteria as co-designers, although these experiments are small in scale they open up the idea that we could design with materials both biological and synthetic.

Throughout this dissertation I aim to summarise the importance for Architects and designers to respond meaningfully to the rapid degradation of our planet, they must reprioritise their goal and aim to preserve the environment for future generations to enjoy. How they go about doing this after years of exploiting the Earth’s natural resources requires a complete shift in how we understand and implement nature within design practices. It requires a trans-disciplinary approach which hones the skills and substantial knowledge base already acquired through recent breakthroughs within the live sciences, a bed of knowledge that is open and ready to be extrapolated by architects. This cross-disciplinary approach has the potential to produce architectural systems that are as harmonious and responsive to their context as that of a living biological system.

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chApter 2:

form

follows

process

In this chapter I will explore the themes of form and process In relation to Biomimicry. I will give an outline of Biomimicry and where I feel it falls short of what the original intention of the concept. The term biomimicry was conceived by Janine Benyus in her book ‘Biomimicry’ (1997).The origins of the word come from the Greek bios meaning life and mimesis meaning imitation. For her, Biomimicry means: “The conscious emulation of life’s genius”. (J Benyus, (1997).

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2:1 beyond bIomImIcry.

Biology can be understood as being a beautifully elegant system that optimizes information storage, retrieval and self-assembly. This amazing technology is all around us, and it is within our best interest to draw tectonic solutions from this extensive pool of knowledge that has had millions of years to perfect.

At the present moment strategies that speak at a conceptual level to the notion of an ecological and sustainable architecture exist in concepts such as Biomimicry in which biological forms and functions are transplanted onto standard material systems employing a top-down method of design. And as such the resulting architecture is inferior and loses most of the qualities of the original biological system being mimicked (Spiller, (2011).

Biomimicry fails to recognize that biology works from interactions at the molecular scale that form the macro scale this leads to unsustainable and expensive solutions and as such Biomimicry acts as more of a representation or an aesthetic formalization of the sustainable.

This calls for an alternative approach to how we employ biological systems within the built environment an approach that contrasts with the architectural tradition of creating a blueprint to enforce a prescribed order on a system. The alternative must act in harmony with its context and be genuinely sustainable.

I believe that we can only move towards this ideal if the constituent materials that make up the built environment are designed employing a bottom up approach, that is seen within every natural organization system. To meaningfully construct a biological architecture that works at a molecular we need to look at the materials at a molecularl scale, and utilize the natural flow of energy within these constituents.

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2:1 form Science and architecture were synonymous with each other. During the renaissance and baroque. This is especially apparent when looking within the sketchbooks of Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519). Who wrote within those pages, “Those who are inspired by a model other than nature, a mistress above all masters, are labouring in vain.�- Leanardo da Vinci.

Fig 1: Leanardo’s glider sketch. (1480).

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Fig Leonardo da vinci – bird wing with mechanical connections. (1480).

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In the subsequent generation architects all over Europe such as Claude Perrault in France and Christopher Wren in England studied in depth scientific endeavours. In Italy Guarino Guarini (1624-1683) employed geometry to produce complex and extravagant domes that are structurally captivating. These coincidences of engagement are an obvious indication of how close the relation between architecture and science was at least until the 18th century. And as stated by Antoine Picon “architecture was still considered a discipline embodying very essential natural principles�(Picon, 2003, p. 314).

This appreciation of architecture within science was based on the classical believe in an architectonic world ruled by proportion (Schumacher, 2011).

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Fig 3: Guarino Guarini’s Chapel of the Holy Shroud in Turin. Anna Jedličková ( 2017).

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In recent years terms like Biomimicry have been used as a purely aesthetic metaphor based on a romantic view of nature and results in iconic elements that give priority to form above efficiency and performance (Armstrong, 2011). Following an eco-aesthetic logic that speaks only on the visual characteristics of nature. This logic may share aesthetic qualities with formations found in nature, but unlike natural organisms, that don’t always exhibit a connection or relationship to their environment context.

Our fascination with the natural world goes beyond what we can see clearly with the naked eye. It goes all the way right down to the microscopic scale. In the mid-1800s improvements to microscopes allowed us to delve deeper, and immerse ourselves in this micro world far away from the human-scale (Gruber, 2011).

Images drawn by Ernst Haeckel, showcase this fascinating change of scale, these beautiful images allowed others outside the realm of the life sciences to truly indulge and uncover the potential of discoveries found within the scientific field.

Fig 4: Lichenes, Ernst Haeckel,(1904).

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The influence that scientific disciplines can have on a broader scope such as the field of architecture relies on how discoveries are represented. These discoveries must speak a universal language that is accessible and thus inspirational.

The beautiful way in which Haeckel represented his work is inherently responsible for the influence it had on the public and led to the broad impact of his work. An impact that extended to architects and designers.

His drawing of the Protozoa heavily influenced Rene Binet in his project for the world exposition (Paris) 1900 in which the entrance was a complete built translation of an entire natural organism. (Haeckel et al., 1998, p.27)

Fig 5: Cyrtoidea,Ernst Haeckel,(1904).

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Fig 6: catalogue souvenir de l’Exposition Universelle,René Binet, (1900).

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2:2

process

However, I believe that in order for a successful bio-inspired architectural output. It is critical that architects seek out the principles that produce natural forms. As these principles are the physical processes that generates life itself.

Form emerges in nature not merely as an aesthetic, but as a result of a process that utilizes internal information between individual agents within the system, that are directly responding to the environmental influences of the context.

And as stated by Juri Lebedew, in his book “architecture und bionik”: “In nature, the principle of integration of function and form and structure is effective and is adapted to the existence and in relation with the environment.” (Lebedew, 1983, p.22).

Thus all forms that exist in nature are the intrinsic embodiment of both function and structure generated from an internal. Integrity of form. This perception of the internal logic at play within natural formations renders translations that are solely morphological translations inert.

The projects of Frei Otto looked into nature as an example of how the manners through which nature builds up form come from an intelligent system that responds beautifully to environmental forces. In his perspective, an architectural building must be conceived as a system with purpose. The very act of designing is not only drawing beautiful forms, but actually projecting a building that answers the architectural problem in a natural way.

Natural here would be a construction that has form and structural qualities conceived as a result of material self-organisation. Which emerged from a process of discovery in observing the natural processes found in nature.

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The concept of finding form is a pursuit towards the optimisation of structural performance, where optimal efficiency should be achieved with the minimal amount of material, or in his words “the essential” (Burkhardt, 2016).

For him the minimal building would be a surface that has all the qualities that are found in the natural system embedded in it.

Performing in terms of structure, applying in its conception the minimum amount of energy and matter needed for the expected result, just like in ecosystems, where form exists with the essential for its needs.

“Good Architecture is more important than beautiful Architecture. The ideal is ethically good Architecture that is aesthetic. Building that achieve this ideal are rare. Only they are worth keeping.”

(Otto, et al, 1995)

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The most explicit processes that Frei Otto employed to explore these concepts were through his experimentation with soap films in the pursuit to find an optimal form for tent structures.

Tents are constructs made of membrane surfaces that should be pre-stressed equally and consistently in all directions to allow the flexibility of the whole structure.

The most important part in the construction is the shape of the membrane as it determines the flow of forces. In addition its supports and the overall curvature should be one capable of supporting external loads, along with the help of edge cables to absorb the forces of the membrane translating it to the structure.

Fig 7: Frei Otto and the Importance of Experimentation in Architecture, via Pinterest / Usuario u2toyou.

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Membrane tents perform like soap films. Soap films represent an equilibrium form for a state of pre-stress. The experiments carried out by Otto were made with dish washing liquid and water mixture. That when in contact with a continuous frame in this case a wire loop creates a thin membrane that responds to an input being the tread shape, either it being flat or curved. This generated membrane has equal forces distributed along its surface in all directions respecting physical and geometric rules. The underlying principle of lightweight construction is the way in which natural forces are transmitted.

Later on these experiments were recording and measured by a specific machine that translated it into numeric values, which allowed the generation of minimal surfaces in computers.

Membranes can also be substituted by cable nets made of steel that can perform the same way as the membranes, the project of the Olympic building in Munich exemplifies these assumptions, as it is built up with pre-stressed steel cables that redirects the forces to the structures, followed by a glass roof.

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right:Fig 8: parque olimpico de munique - Frei Otto.

Photo by:calijuri hamra (2010 ).

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Frei Otto’s scientific experimentation and his research on forms and structures present in nature. Demonstrate a profound knowledge of the physical processes that produce these forms. Responding intelligently to natural properties both physical and geometrical, that can be applied to construction systems. Creating simplicity out of complexity.

Frei Otto understood the scientific field as a way exploring the insights, revelations, and open questions that arise in the integration of nature and technology (Yowell, 2012). As a result of his insights Otto is seen as a pioneer of lightweight structures and technology. Which have allowed for further developments into efficient building by his contemporaries.

Otto’s design method of employing natural organisation systems to find an optimal form is profoundly different from the still prevalent method of applying form due to purely aesthetic consideration (Hensel, Menges & Weinstock, 2010, pp. 48, 49).

To achieve ’good architecture’ we must challenge ourselves to look beyond form, and strive to understand and implement the principles of nature’s systems.

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Fig : 9: Neural network Nancy Guth , (2017).

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chApter 3: the cIty

32

As

A

superorgAnIsm

3:1 the

cIty

As

A

network

of

bIologIcAl

processes

Here I will draw comparisons between how cities evolve and function with that of a biological system outlining the need for the future of the architectural discipline to design cities that are fundamentally resilient and adaptable to the influences of their ever changing environment. Transcending towards a built environment, which will dynamically modify and optimize its physical integrity to meet these challenges. Thus opening up the question as to how can we design and develop cities that are resilient to change?

Neil Leach addresses how the concept of swarm can be applied to urbanism. Critical to the discussion on swarm theory is the concept of emergence. Leach offers a definition in accordance with the theories of emergence that have been brought up by Steven Johnson in his book; ‘Emergence’, (2009). That describes a city in terms like that of a living organism: “The city operates as a dynamic, adaptive system, Based on interactions with neighbours, informal feedback loops, pattern recognition, and indirect control. . .

Like any other population composed of a large number of smaller discrete elements, such as colonies of ants, flocks of birds, networks of neurons or even the global economy, it displays a bottom-up collective intelligence that is more sophisticated than the behaviour of its parts. “(Leach, (2009), p58).

Adaptive design can be thought of as an approach to design and planning that directly responds to the ecological context. A design strategy that acknowledges that all aspects of design must engage with the immediate ecology and understand in depth the cities relationship with the living biology that sustains it. In other words adaptive design must approach cities as being fundamentally dynamic organisms (Asla.org, 2017).

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Central to this notion is that adaptive design must critically recognize cities and the ecosystems that define them as being super organisms that are reactive and resilient to change.

Cities, like biological systems, or super-organisms possess a kind of emergent intelligence: an ability to store and retrieve information, to recognize and respond to patterns in human behaviour. (Valverde and SolĂŠ, 2013) The Human Subject has a direct relationship with the Urban Object. Thus it is the human mind that shapes the bottom-up evolution of how a city develops and creates spaces that function beyond the top-down functions dictated in the initial design process, but only within the realm of possibility defined by the human mind. This sphere defines what can and cannot be a city. (Hillier, 2014) The human mind understands the complex patterns that make up the organism of a city through the undisclosed relationships and interactions between streets, buildings, transportation networks and how these networks are shaped over time. (ibid) It is imperative that as with any living system a city must be able to constantly adapt in order to stay alive.

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3:2 metAbolIsm

of

A

cIty

“Human subtlety will never devise an invention more beautiful, More simple or more direct than does nature, because in her inventions nothing is lacking, and nothing is superfluous.”

- Leonardo da Vinci The prevalent parameters that define architectural production in the present climate, have remained fundamentally unchanged for generations (Armstrong, 2011). However the technology that could potentially revolutionise the field of architectural production has been around longer than humans have inhabited the earth. This technology is the very biological structures that make up life itself. n a living organism survival is achieved through the constant regeneration of cells and functions allowing for decay and renewal.

The physicist Erwin Schrödinger (1887–1961) defined living matter as, “that which actively avoids the decay into equilibrium “. (Schrodinger, 1944).

Equilibrium arises when dynamic processes reach their lowest energy state at this point the system becomes functionally inert. In order for living systems to avoid equilibrium they self-regulate and optimize their usage of energy, while simultaneously adapting their usage of raw materials over the course of their lifetime. (Biocab.org, 2017.) They display an elegant performance in the way they effectively obtain energy from their surrounding and eliminate waste products in a chemical process that is known as metabolism.

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Metabolism can be defined as “the chemical processes that occur within a living organism in order to maintain life. Two kinds of metabolism are often distinguished: constructive metabolism, the synthesis of the proteins, carbohydrates, and fats that form tissue and store energy, and destructive metabolism, the breakdown of complex substances and the consequent production of energy and waste matter.” (New Oxford American Dictionary, program version 1.0.1, 2005).

A living entity such as a super-organism exhibits a pure metabolism and thus achieves a dynamic equilibrium between the input and output of energy.

When using the analogy of a city being like a super-organism metabolism can be translated from the biological to mechanical as the potential for the underlying systems that make up a city to exhibit dynamic equilibrium, through a closed loop system in where, energy production ,and energy used is transferred back into the environment to be reused.

Translating the notion of metabolism within an architectural context means that the city as a whole must exert a dynamic equilibrium. That optimizes its use of energy and matter and responds directly to its external context.

In the 1960s Kisho Kurokawa was a key figure in the Metabolist movement and he understood architectural Metabolism as something that, was meant to implement change, exchange and constant renewal into architecture (Heeswijk , and Choi, 2012). n the paper “the changing Metabolism of cities”, Kennedy et al. (2007) defined urban metabolism as “the sum total of the technical and socio-economic processes that occur in cities, resulting in growth, production of energy and elimination of waste” (Kennedy et al, 2008, p44) Thus we can view a city in the same way as we would a super-organism or eco-system. (Pincetl et al., 2012). As a city exhibits a metabolism similar to that of the cyclical mechanisms within natural ecosystems, the physical and biological systems of a city require fluxes of materials and energy for generating products, services, and consequently producing waste (huang and hsu, 2003).

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Fig 10: Kisho Kurokawa, Helix City, (1961).

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As result of rapid urbanisation, it is important to understand that urban systems must exhibit a cyclical metabolism as opposed to a generally unsustainable linear model of metabolism, Unsustainable because it effectively unbalances ecosystems by plundering, consuming and disposing the waste into the environment (Girardet, 1992).

Thus by employing cyclic metabolism as a more effective concept of metabolism within an urban context allows for shifts towards sustainable urban development, where outputs are recycled and reintegrated into the system (Girardet 2008) to increase the efficiency of resources and avoid waste (Newman, 1999).

Organisms have evolved over time to actively resist ‘decay into equilibrium and to put it simply avoid death. Living Organisms have developed to have the ability to disperse into singular units that can act independently away from their constituent material that is observable in time and space. It is imperative to the survival of a living organism to perpetually optimize their chemical processes and even assume variant configurations as they adapt to their changing environment.

(Roggema, 2012).

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Certain lifeforms that grow over an epoch exert interesting and somewhat surprising adaptations of form as their needs change due to factors such as size and complexity.

This phenomenon can be observed from something as seemingly insignificant as the slime mould.Which has been extensively discussed in (Johnson, 2006), where he explains how the slime mould - Physarum Polycephalum - is highly adaptable to changes in the environment. Through much of its lifetime the slime mould acts as thousands of single cell units that move independently from each other an “it”. When the environmental conditions are optimum, those myriad cells will homogenize into a single, larger organism, the “it” becomes a “they” as the weather turns cooler and the mould enjoys a large food supply, “it” becomes a “they”, and can benefit from a considerable food supply. ‘The slime mould oscillates between being a single creature and a swarm’ (Johnson, 2006, pp. 13).

How do slime cells trigger aggregation without following a leader?

The answer? - They self-organize: Self-organisation is defined as: “The spontaneous often seemingly purposeful formation of spatial, temporal, spatiotemporal structures or functions in systems composed of few or many components. In physics, chemistry and biology self-organization occurs in open systems driven away from thermal equilibrium.”

It is imperative that as with any living system a city must be able to constantly adapt in order to stay alive. In a living organism survival is achieved through the constant regeneration of cells and functions allowing for decay and renewal. In this way a city can also be understood as a living breathing organism that must adapt, grow and evolve.

An evolutionary city must be able to exhibit metabolism in order to maintain a stable relationship with the environment.

One that is thermodynamically open in both a socio-economic and a metabolic sense.

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3:3 swArm cIty Cities need to constantly change and evolve in order to remain relevant, just as the red Queen said to Alice: “Now, here, you see, it takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place.

If you want to get somewhere else, you must run at least twice as fast as that!� (Caroll, 1871).

The city is changing, it is moving away from traditional notions of being a purely aesthetic creation, which relies heavily on a top-down approach to design. An approach that proceeds to try to dictate how cities ultimately function, ignoring site-specific conditions and focusing primarily on defined spatial arrangements, density and form.

Biology has been taking on a bottom-up approach to design for millennia. Intrinsic to their survival is their ability to adapt and evolve to their context. This self-organising behaviour is developed through the chemical processes that develop at the molecular scale, creating living solutions that optimize energy flow and distribution that is always harmonious within the ecological context.Thus in taking inspiration from life itself. Understanding nature’s remarkable ability to adapt to its surroundings, and Applying the principles of swarm theory to our built environment, has the potential to revolutionise the current architectural paradigm and even fabricate dynamic infrastructures that are more resilient and adaptable to change.

In order for design to evolve, it must understand that cities, much like any static natural organism are defined by how it responds to its context and the environmental conditions that this context exerts. Cities should be seen as a system of energy distribution between the ever-changing climate and the inhabitants that use them.

The way we see cities should shift towards the understanding that they have an intrinsic metabolism and that they are living, breathing super organisms that match natural organisms in both depth and complexity.

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To design a city with ecology in mind there must be interactions between the individual units. That take place at the bottom of the overall system, these individual units can be seen as cells which must change in response to the changes in other cells. In effect acting as a swarm.

Swarm theory is deployed by what could be seen as one of the world’s most successful super organisms, (social insects).

And why shouldn’t the super-organism of the city be designed with swarm theory in mind? After all, like a swarm, cities have proven to be successful in replicating themselves, drawing in migrant populations from around the world, and encouraging- on the whole, higher birth rates and longer life spans from within their periphery. (Marshall, 2009) Cities, like termite colonies, possess a kind of emergent intelligence: an ability to store and retrieve information, to recognize and respond to patterns in human behaviour. (Valverde and Solé, 2013)Currently the methods employed in city planning use a top-down approach which has shown to be limited in making accurate predictions in how functional elements evolve in response to environmental changes. (ibid) n contrast termite mounts which have been revealed to show complex spatial patterns that create elegant and elaborate structural lattices, which demonstrate efficient spatial solutions, with little energy expenditure in their creation. These complex 3 dimensional spatial structures are designed through what could be considered as individual disorder. The termites design by employing bottom-up rules where there is no conscious overall plan. The individual agent self-organizes through intricate and adaptable interactions in response to changes in its immediate environment as the structure develops and in turn informing a changing set of rules in which the individual agent responds to. (Valverde and Solé, 2013) This stark contrast between how the collective intelligence of a biological swarm system and its artificial counterpart creates structure is important to recognise, when trying to come up with solutions to the limitations that occur in both systems. It is here where the boundary between technology and biology could merge to counteract such limitations.

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Fig 11: Astrocyte, Philip Beesley and Alex Williams,(2017).

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chApter 4: AmAlgAmAtIons And bIology.

44

of

technology

4:1 slIme network Numerous networks found in the natural and artificial realm create similar patterns As is apparent in fig 12 from the book ‘Occupying and connecting’ (Otto,2009).This image supports his notion that spontaneous networks of urbanity follow similar patterns to ones formed in nature through the structures of leaves, insect colonies or soap bubbles. (Otto, 2009, p51).

Fig 12: Occupying and connecting. Frei Otto.

(2009). P.51.

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This is because these networks perform under similar constraints and generate transport that allow for energy and information to travel efficiently. All networks including transportation systems are fundamentally spatial networks. Sharing the common goal of optimal efficiency and speed. They operate under the same environmental conditions which in turn influence the overall organisational pattern. Consequently patterns and formations arise within these disparate systems, due to these physical constraints that we perceive as observable regularities (Valverde, S. and SolĂŠ, R., 2013).

The rapid increase in the number of cities means that the potential solutions for designing cities using top-down methods grows exponentially. Consequently the problems associated with addressing the scope of problems that can arise and the intrinsic difficulties in predicting how a city will evolve and eventually grow also increases. It is extremely difficult to systematically test every possible solution. However the undeniable similarities between biological networks and their artificial counterparts suggest that there is a potential in harnessing biological principles to address the limitations expressed in top-down planning (Ibid).

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A remarkable possibility has emerged as a result of recent experiments with the slime mould - Physarum Polycephalum - (mentioned earlier in chapter 3:1) Here researchers led by Atsushi Tero of Hokkaido University looking for ways to improve the transport networks of Tokyo exploited the simple swarming techniques used by this single-cell organism, as a way of discovering optimal transportation paths and efficient formations ( Sanders, 2010).

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Fig 13: Strangely beautiful. Norbert HĂźlsmann, (2014).

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The experiment was conducted by distributing a piece of food (in this case an oat flake) that correlated with the specific location of the cities that surround Tokyo. The Slime mould was then deployed and allowed to explore and search its new territory freely, at first dispersing evenly around the oat flakes. Every time the slime discovered a ‘city’ it grew there. While simultaneously generating hollow tubes that ferry nutrients between neighbouring cities or oat flakes. (Valverde, S. and Solé, R., 2013). A dynamic process of creation and destruction is observed. As the living organism explores its surrounding space it creates a living web of networks that encompass all available routes within hours the slime mould begins to continually refining this pattern the optimal tunnels between oat flakes are strengthened at the same time as other links are gradually destroyed. Over the course of 24 hours a network of strong resilient tunnels transporting nutrients between connected centrally located oats had been constructed by the slime mould.

The resulting pattern observed was extremely similar to that of the rail system surrounding Tokyo.

Right: Fig 14: A slime mold maps out train routes around Tokyo .SCIENCE/ AAAS, (2010).

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Fig 15: slime mold maps out train routes around Tokyo 2.SCIENCE/ AAAS, (2010).

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Fig 16: A slime mold maps out train routes around Tokyo 3.SCIENCE/AAAS, (2010).

The researchers then employed the simple self-organising properties from the slime mould to develop a biology inspired mathematical translation of the network formation. That behaves like the slime mould by initially generating a fine mesh that encompasses the entirety of the space, and continually refining this mesh to create a network in which the tubes carrying the most matter grow stronger while detaching the redundant tubes. ( Sanders, 2010).

By investigating the slime moulds natural behaviour a computer algorithm was created that allowed for a dynamic model that implements complex biological phenomenon to offer solutions for the optimisation of transport systems.

The simplicity and elegance of this practice has the potential to be applied to a disparate array of spatial systems that would greatly benefit from cost minimisation while maintaining an efficient flow of communication. This method has yet to be translated into systems beyond road maps, however, its efficiency shown in this case study as well as a variety of others is already defined and could be a catalyst in alternative approaches to network design at different scales.

The seemingly insignificant slime mould, a single-cell organism that has the amazing capacity to establish optimal transportation paths connecting to specific locations could potentially offer us us some valuable lessons as to how to escape from our own design traps (Valverde, S. and SolĂŠ, R., 2013).

Thus in taking inspiration from life itself. Understanding nature’s remarkable ability to adapt to its surroundings, and Applying the principles of swarm theory to our built environment, has the potential to revolutionise the current architectural paradigm and even fabricate dynamic infrastructures that are more resilient and adaptable to change.

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4:2

envIronment

As

co-desIgner

Our view of the natural world has constructed a tension between technology and biology.

That must be de-constructed and reconstructed anew. In order to subvert the limitations of designers to integrate fully biological into the material behaviour of buildings and artefacts. Thus fully embedding technology with the external environment.

The traditional practice of design functions from top-down constraints and inform and manipulate the generation of form and function. In the biological world form is an expression of bottom-up processes of cell differentiation, self-organisation that allow for growth, adaptation, and regeneration.

The natural environment is abundant with an unimaginable array of micro-organisms. As advances in the life sciences opens up this microscopic world to be admired and investigated. The importance of these organisms and the contribution they make to the circumstances in which we exist. Is increasingly becoming apparent.

Within their microbial world, demonstrations of how organisms form, self-organise and create material compositions with a considered and responsive relationship with their environment, the environment that we too inhabit. Metaphorical Parallels with human colonisation and how micro-organisms colonise their habitat can be drawn due to the manner in which these organisms employ processes and mechanisms that allow for them to communicate, organise themselves interact with their environment.

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Using micro-organisms as a co-designer within an architectural realm can teach us valuable lessons regarding harmonious relations with the environment and maintaining sustainable systems. (Armstrong,2012) A considerable body of work that uses the concept of Biomimicry to influence the form and the organisational structure of architectural artefacts and buildings.

However in the pursuit for architects to deeply engage with biological matter to actually design with a living material to explore the potential it has harnessed for millions of years is less extrapolative and documentation is limited.

We must begin to look at micro-organic material in same way we view traditional building materials and manipulate and control its behaviour to harness its potential in a meaningful way.

To do this it is ultimately necessary for a convergence of disciplinary fields as stated by ‘name here’ in his paper (name here): “Designers must engage the expertise of specialists, drawing upon a body of knowledge that they themselves cannot be expected to possess. For architects, the conventional assembly of sub-consultants will be extended to include microbiologists and mycologists alongside structural engineers and mechanical and electrical engineers. Such an interdisciplinary approach is essential for the successful creation of partially living architectural hybrids.”(Pryshchepa ,2012)

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By applying the material and technological principles of biological processes in architectural design practice, it may be possible to develop resilient cities. The kinds of infrastructure that may support lively communities of collaborating human and non-human bodies.

Potentially, by strategically orchestrating the flow of matter through our cities, we may discover new ways of developing our homes and cities as continual, collaborative acts of co-evolution with non-humans. These developments may extend the traditional notions of architecture as barriers between humans and the natural world, by embedding our living spaces with resilient, robust qualities that can deal with unpredictability and, in essence, are designed to promote ‘life’.

Certainly, we may begin to value matter differently if we acknowledge the diverse material communities that have collaborated to create the conditions for our survival. By consciously appreciating the enormity of these collective endeavors and the vast investment made by non-humans in our own culture, we may be more inclined to build on, rather than destroy these relationships. Our modern industrial world view that shapes the way we imagine our living spaces rests on object-centered canons that narrow the possibilities for architectural design practice down into object-centered, geometric plots and adopts an almost exclusively anthropocentric perspective. This illusion of architectural certainty is being assaulted by the increasing turbulence within natural systems, (Dolnick, 2011).

Yet, if we are to develop more environmentally compatible approaches, our assumptions about the material realm require significant deconstruction – and reconstruction to propose alternatives, by constructing manifestos and populating these concepts with many new ‘species’ of architecture. Radical new proposals are needed to catalyze this punctuated equilibrium in architectural design evolution – where new features suddenly appear and reach escape velocity from what has gone before to carve out new territories, which also requires new ways of thinking. These propositions also need to be grounded in a technological reality so that they may be explored and realized.

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Matter has never been predictable or obedient. We have simply learned to understand it this way through Enlightenment perspectives. We must begin to appreciate the potency and profound investment that non-human agents have made and continue to contribute to our existence, it may be possible to challenge entrenched architectural rules and practices; by appreciating the liveliness of the biological realm.

At an architectural scale, when biological matter is entangled and shaped within our living spaces, it could produce an architecture’, which goes beyond being a container, or ‘machine for living in’ (Gallagher, 2001; Le Corbusier, 2007, p.158), but embodies lifelike processes that co-design our spaces, and the potential to shape our evolution. This co-designed architecture may seamlessly operate within mechanical and process led world views and can therefore be viewed as both an object and a process. Yet, fundamentally, it is a transformer, which breaks down the ontological barriers that set objects and systems in opposition, This increases their combined effects of heterogeneous agents, which may bring about radical transformation within these newly connected systems to produce something entirely new. This material convergence could provide a new production platform whose operations are shaped by spatial programs and are amplified through the interactions of assemblages across many scales.

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Fig 17: monitor vessel 1, Steve Pike, (2008).

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Steve pike and microbiologist Conrad Mullineaux, embarked upon a series of controlled experiments, with the end result being a beautifully crafted container for highly responsive bacteria. That showcases the potential for an architecture that is biologically responsive at a human-scale. Ultimately the installation provokes and challenges how we see organic matter .By exploring the aesthetic implications of it as a mass of densely colonised matter that reflects user’s activities via their bacteriological traces.

The project was named Algaetecture, and sought out to incorporate micro-organic systems and processes present in organic matter into a series of experimental prototypes (Pike, 2008).

By exploiting the natural responsiveness of an organic material within an elegantly crafted aesthetic container. Gives the viewer an insight into the potential working with a non-human co-designer has for architecture.

Critical to this is the interdisciplinary collaboration where the laboratory essentially becomes the design studio, between microbiologist Conrad Mullineux and the Architect Steve Pike, where the bed of knowledge offered by both fields greatly extends what is possible. In order for the small colonies, of photosensitive Cyanobacteria to be controlled or their pattern and form manipulated initial experimentations using inhibitors in the form of light and facilitators in the form of food. The knowledge from these initial manipulations proceeded towards the creation of a series of interaction vessels, controlled environments in which different micro-organisms were introduced and manipulated. Due to the influence of facilitators and inhibitors, bespoke devices and vessels allowing some guidance over the microbial growth, were created.

Which offered the prospect that a beautiful and responsive artefact, that was partially designed by and architect with other aspects generated by the self-organisation of the colonies themselves.

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Addressing the limitations of the laboratory was paramount if these investigations were to offer and Architectural potential. Vital to this was to push traditional limitations of spatial constructs relating to micro-biological practice, as to allow for scientific practices to move into an architectural realm the scan pad addressed the critical limitation of the 2-d Petri-dish into a vertical 3d growth plane, by suspending an adequate growth plane within the acrylic vessel and introducing the distinctively photosensitive microbe Synechococcus at the base of the growth plane, presenting that it is possible for micro- biological organisms to be redistributed three dimensionally.

Most import to the investigation was to facilitate the sequential monitoring of the resulting emerging colonial progression. This was achieved by attaching a Planar scanning device to the vessel which periodically monitored changes in the bacterial colony.

Fig 18: Vertical colonisation apparatus, Steve Pike, (2008).

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The integrity of processes established in these experiments accumulated in the final exhibition to present responsive organic properties at an architectural scale. Moving away from the confines of a standard 90mm Petri-dish towards a constructed artefact with a length of 1200mm (Pike, 2008).

The vessels displayed that within an architectural surface natural processes such as the capacity for algae to absorb carbon dioxide and supply oxygen can be harnessed by an architectural component. This has the potential for the modification of the immediate environment of the architectural vessel.

The actual component was crafted out of resilient high impact heat deforming, transparent acrylic, which can be easily sterilised. Within the vessel a taut nylon membrane was suspended and placed within an agar based growth medium that allowed for the uniform growth of the Cyanobacteria Synechocytis. , assembled alongside the vessels was an entire support infrastructure of facilitators, inhibitors, structure, and discharge systems (Pike 2008).

Thus a partially living hybrid emerged.

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Fig 19: Scanpad vertical phototropic growth plane, Steve Pike, (2008).

Fig 20: monitor vessel 2, Steve Pike, (2008.)

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A prominent concern of the exhibition was the maintenance of sterile conditions. It was inevitable that contamination would arise as ambient micro-organisms infiltrated the vessels,Thus destabilizing the original intent of a transformative vessel.

Emerging as a response to this was a modified non-sterile reconfiguration of the outcome one in which the growth of the captured microbes was encouraged and monitored. Filled with potato dextrose agar, a medium that facilitates fungal growth, contamination flourished, manifesting the impermanence abundant cohabitants of the environment in which we exist.

As demonstrated in this installation, a complete control of natural organisms is only achievable within heavily controlled and enclosed environments that require a great deal of sterilisation infrastructure. This approach is incredibly restrictive and doesn’t allow for natural phenomena to exert its true potential and exhibit a flexibility. Beyond the laboratory this level of control cannot be reached and so designers must relinquish an absolute control and design with allowances in place for the micro-organisms to exhibit their own responsive patterns. The part the designer plays is in the application of inhibitors and facilitators that influence the behaviour of the living matter creating a partially living architectural construct.

Where the designers input is most apparent is in the construction of the vessels and the appropriation of relevant support structures and apparatus that exploit the potential of the proliferating microbes and the colonial progression.

With the successful creation of partially living architectural constructs. Pike’s prototype showcases that it is possible to engage directly with biological systems and exploit the natural responsivity and resilience the natural world has to

offer within an architectural context.

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The resulting mechanisms are inherently dynamic; a trait in which artificially manufactured systems almost universally lack.

This is because they directly engage with and incorporate living organisms within the design embracing the unpredictability that other contemporary architectural investigations avoid in man-made interpretations of natural processes and systems.

By avoiding the unpredictability of living organisms as a consequence the benefits are relinquished.

Employing micro-organic matter as a co-designer, demands a re-construction to how we approach design. It is inevitable that disciplinary boundaries must expand and relish in an expanded bed of knowledge and expertise. This requires a collaborative process that works in partnership with and is informed by other disciplines, so it remains responsive to changing needs, ideas and contexts that are not contained within predetermined designs but are fashioned through continual, iterative exchanges As co-designers of systems, architects may work in collaboration with other humans and non-human agents through processes that do not invoke hierarchies of order but forge mutual relationships between many heterogeneous agents.

Collaborating with biological organisms such as Cyanobacteria provides a means of developing new tactics for the construction of dynamic spatial programs that may shape our living spaces.

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Raising the ‘status’ of the material world is an essential step in developing more ecologically compatible communities and alternative technological platforms that may underpin human development. This notion of ecology is not merely implied by observing relationships between urban actants differently to predict the movement of resources and people, but is tangible and manifest through spatial, temporal and material relationships. Architectural programs, therefore, form the basis of a synthetic ecology, which is not an inert artefact, but exists as a living network.

Clearly, matter that has abundant energy to exert significant force with human-scale consequences, raises architectural design questions – particularly with respect to the relationships between matter, form, program, environment and Nature. Material that is essentially alive, may respond to many different kinds of architectural design programs that may use overlapping and contradictory cues, or decentralized and de-anthropocentrized approaches (Hundertwasser, not dated), where architects are not the sole designers in the system but collaborators that work with the radical creativity of vibrant matter and its collaborating non-human communities. Yet, if biological matter is to be a useful for technology, as opposed to a material curiosity, it implies that elemental infrastructures must be more widely distributed within our building fabrics and living spaces. The condensation of elemental flows around these sites will encourage metabolic activity within architectural spandrels, or even to be more publicly celebrated as central features within social spaces, as in ‘Hylozoic Veil’ in the Leonardo Building, Salt Lake City (Philip Beesley Architect, 2011). The Hylozoic veil permeates the air and is visible from all the floors within the museum.

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Fig 21: Hylozoic Veil: The Leonardo ,Salt Lake City, Utah, Philip Beesley and Alex Williams, (2011).

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Fig 22: Hylozoic Veil: The Leonardo ,Salt Lake City, Utah, Philip Beesley and Alex Williams, (2011).

The Hylozoic Veil was created with the ability to react to its environment, and its movement is breath-taking and incredibly immersive responding to fluctuation in temperature as well as when it ‘senses’ that people are close this is because of proximity sensors responds to occupants and its surroundings through the combination of many fields of study such as art science engineering, chemistry and gives a sense of artificial life.(ref) The Hylozoic Veil was Beesley’s way of responding materially to the question: “Can architecture feel, know, and respond to their occupants? Might buildings begin, in primitive ways, to come alive?”(Beesley, 2018) The installation is part of a series of work called the Hylozoic series.

‘Hylozoism’ refers to the philosophy that all matter has life. The Hylozoic Series builds upon this ancient conception by designing synthetic organic environments. Representing that, a new generation of interactive technologies is rapidly emerging within contemporary architecture(Beesley,2018). Machine learning, emotional computational systems and synthetic biology reactions are at the very early stages of integration within these systems. These environments raise fundamental questions: how might we visualize the dynamics of open, evolving systems? How might new models emulating living systems and ecologies be translated into effective tools for design? New kinds of language are needed that provide critical terms of reference for discussing precise qualities of complex systems. New technical systems are needed that provide flexibility and resilience in handling conditions lying far from equilibrium. Conceptions such as the Hylozic veil are being used for the purpose of forming coherent, durable, functional public-scale architectural prototypes.

Beesley believes that these public scale prototypes have “potent implications for architecture” and has stated that, “For me, the idea that buildings can be designed as adaptable, flexible and self-generating complex systems is compelling because it offers a way of moving beyond consumer-based economies and restraint-based ethics into a more fertile realm.”(Beesley, 2018)

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Fig 23: Hylozoic Veil: The Leonardo ,Salt Lake City, Utah, Philip Beesley and Alex Williams, (2011).

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The idea of an architecture that is co-designed by natural biological processes remains open and ready for incorporation within existing systems and ultimately seeks to subvert established power relationships, formal categories of production and the way that architecture is inhabited. By inviting non-human co-designers to collaborate in its substance. This may take place through innumerable acts of architectural design, at many scales, whose outcomes are always works in progress. It may be expressed through spatial programs and design tactics that give rise to rich and varied architectural experiences. Essentially, a co-designed architecture takes the form of post-natural materials that offer a fertile field of new possibilities in cities where human and non-human communities collaborate and co-design our living spaces and evolve alongside us, and to augment the aliveness of our planet rather than diminish it.

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Fig 24: Astrocyte, Philip Beesley and Alex Williams,(2017).

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5: conclusIon It is imperative that architects recognise the unprecedented urgency to respond meaningfully to what is the accelerated degradation of our environment. This new pressure (ethical, regulatory and intellectual) requires architects to address the fragility of nature and understand that it is our responsibility as designers to preserve it for future generations (Myers,2014).

With the emergence of such shifting and intensifying constraints, A paradigm shift in which designers are cooperating with scientists for expertise and guidance as a way to fully embrace the processes apparent within the natural environment beyond the pure emulation of natural forms(Ibid). In a pursuit to Harness the intrinsic underlying properties that allow for natural systems to achieve a perfect economy in their optimisation of materials and energy. As a result of this shift is the ongoing challenge towards reaching a goal, where the integration of natural systems within design can produce an enhanced ecological performance.

The concepts, prototypes and structures mentioned above that utilize new technology and breakthroughs in the sciences, and successfully implement principles towards design that are observed only in nature. These examples mark the beginning of a paradigm shift in manner in which we understand the architectural discipline. Ultimately asking the question if such an extensive collaboration with scientific fields is the future holds, what are the implications for the architectural discipline? This question will be answered over time as global imperatives such as the urgency to develop and implement cleaner technologies push cross-disciplinary collaboration forward. Thus scientific research will increasingly inform creative pursuits.

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This subverts the traditional mechanical and functional design processes that characterised the 20th century: In which breakthroughs in chemistry and physics were exploited as way of overpowering isolating and essentially trying to control the natural forces of nature. (Ibid) Designing using biological insights requires collaboration with scientists harking to a future in which, it is the convention for consilience and convergence across fields. This merging of defined disciplines is imperative if we are to make any impact in alleviating the negative impacts of the industrial revolution.(bio-design) designing with biological processes in mind lends itself to the re-conception the natures design principles and values of growth, regeneration and sustainability.

It is critical to understand that this integration of life into design will not magically solve all our problems. Beyond the integration of architectural vessels with algae bio-reactors and data analysis from slime mould swarms. Designing with living matter can also comprise of the implementation of and exploitation of synthetic biology inviting a potential risk of disrupting the natural ecosystem, this notion is particularly significant due to the fact that this technology will be partnered and implemented by people (the same creatures who are responsible for the current and ongoing unbalancing and degradation of the ecosystem.)

However I believe that the possible benefits of design with nature and an expanding field of knowledge from the life sciences far outweigh these dangers. Leading design towards an approach that is more harmonious and tune with nature (Myers,2014).

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One of the problems is that live is evolutionary. Life on earth is continually being tested with processes that are optimized due to a millennia of trial and error. The processes that exist in architecture however have not been optimized we have no optimal material form and in looking for an entire process that speaks on all levels from the micro to the macro scale in terms of site material construction and the final form is incredibly complex.

However, recent breakthroughs in the field of biology have allowed for a deeper understanding into biological cell organisation which has yet to be engaged with within the architectural discipline. Combining the two fields of knowledge has the potential to produce architectural systems that are as harmonious and responsive to their context as that of a living biological system.

It is then more biologically intelligent for the architectural discipline to move towards a direct and sophisticated integration with biology, towards a future of design that celebrates and uncovers the complex biological processes presented in the very ecology that sustains and defines us (Biota-lab.com, 2017).

Proffering the potential for architectural designs that have increased efficiency and performance. That exert a metabolism, and thus creating a more sustainable infrastructure. his is an unprecedented solution to our current environmental situation, one that requires further research and discovery.

As a product of this paradigm we must be able to surrender complete control and come to terms with the idea that there will be a certain level of uncertainty in how they will eventually behave as they evolve and shift over time. We must come to terms with the idea that the way a city will eventually evolves and develop is impossible to predict in the planning process, no matter how much research and scientific evidence is apparent.(Ibid)Understanding the city as a complex living system means we need to allow for them to be unpredictable and beyond complete comprehension.

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In conclusion Biomimicry responds to vital environmental issues at a human scale, offering insights into how we could achieve significant sustainable solutions and even restorative outcomes at all scales. If we use the knowledge embedded in the natural environment in which we exist, and harness its potential. Then the possibilities of reflexively embroidering the architectural becomes infinite (Spiller 2009).

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Cover image: material formation. (2017) source: Author Fig 1: Leanardo’s glider sketch. (1480). Source: http://www.leonardodavincisinventions.com/inventions-for-flight/leonardo-da-vincis-glider/ Fig 2 : leonardo da vinci – bird wing with mechanical connections. (1480). Source: http://www.leonardodavincisinventions.com/inventions-for-flight/leonardo-da-vincis-glider/ Fig 3: Guarino Guarini’s Chapel of the Holy Shroud in Turin. Anna Jedlioková ( 2017). Source:pinterest https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/326651779194995840/ Fig 4: Lichenes, Ernst Haeckel,(1904). Source:Art Forms in Nature, Plate 83: Fig 5: Cyrtoidea,Ernst Haeckel,(1904). Source:Art Forms in Nature, Fig 6: catalogue souvenir de l’Exposition Universelle,René Binet . (1900) source: https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ren%C3%A9_Binet_(architecte) Fig 7: Frei Otto and the Importance of Experimentation in Architecture, via Pinterest / Usuario u2toyou, Source: https://www.archdaily.com/610531/frei-otto-and-the-importance-of-experimentation-in-architecture Fig 8: Parque Olimpico de Munique - Frei Otto. Photo by:calijuri hamra (2010 ). Source https://www.flickr.com/photos/ze_duds/5646304124/in/photostream/?epik=0i4bnE_IWH-Nz Fig 9: Neural network Nancy Guth , (2017). Source: http://www.scenesarasota.com/magazine/advancements-neurosciences/ Fig 10: Kisho Kurokawa, Helix City, (1961). Source: https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/221239400418724152/ Fig 11: Astrocyte, Philip Beesley and Alex Williams,(2017). © PBAI. Source: http://philipbeesleyarchitect.com/sculptures/1016_The_Leonardo/index.php Fig 12:Occupying and connecting. Frei Otto. (2009). P.51 Fig 13: Strangely beautiful. Norbert Hülsmann, (2014). Source: https://qz.com/301402/what-yellow-slime-yes-slime-can-teach-your-organization/

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Fig 14: A slime mold maps out train routes around Tokyo.SCIENCE/AAAS, (2010). Source: https://www.wired.com/2010/01/slime-mold-grows-network-just-like-tokyorail-system/

Fig 15: A slime mold maps out train routes around Tokyo 2.SCIENCE/AAAS, (2010). Source: https://www.wired.com/2010/01/slime-mold-grows-network-just-like-tokyo-rail-system/ Fig 16: slime mold maps out train routes around Tokyo 3.SCIENCE/AAAS, (2010). Source: https://www.wired.com/2010/01/slime-mold-grows-network-just-like-tokyorail-system/ Fig 17: monitor vessel 1 Steve Pike, (2008). Source: Neoplasmatic Design, ed. Marcos Cruz and Steve Pike, Architectural Design Volume 78, number 6, pub. John Wiley & Sons, November/December 2008.

Fig 18: Vertical colonisation apparatus, Source: Neoplasmatic Design, ed. Marcos Cruz and Steve Pike, Architectural Design Volume 78, number 6, pub. John Wiley & Sons, November/December 2008.

Fig 19: Scanpad vertical phototropic growth plane,Source: Neoplasmatic Design, ed. Marcos Cruz and Steve Pike, Architectural Design Volume 78, number 6, pub. John Wiley & Sons, November/December 2008.

Fig 20:monitor vessel 2, Source: Neoplasmatic Design, ed. Marcos Cruz and Steve Pike, Architectural Design Volume 78, number 6, pub. John Wiley & Sons, November/ December 2008.

Fig 21:Hylozoic Veil: The Leonardo Salt Lake City, Utah, Philip Beesley and Alex Willms (2011), © PBAI. Source: http://philipbeesleyarchitect.com/sculptures/1016_The_ Leonardo/index.php Fig 22:Hylozoic Veil: The Leonardo, Salt Lake City, Utah, Philip Beesley and Alex Willms (2011), © PBAI. Source: http://philipbeesleyarchitect.com/sculptures/1016_The_ Leonardo/index.php Fig 23: Hylozoic Veil: The Leonardo ,Salt Lake City, Utah, Philip Beesley and Alex Willms (2011), © PBAI. Source: http://philipbeesleyarchitect.com/sculptures/1016_The_ Leonardo/index.php Fig 24: Astrocyte, Philip Beesley and Alex Willms (2017), © PBAI. Source: http://philipbeesleyarchitect.com/sculptures/1016_The_Leonardo/index.php

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