Biological Intelligence Museum
Date: 2017
Location: Natian, China
“You never change things by fighting the existing reality.
To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.”
Richard Buckminister Fuller
We are living in a transitional period, away from the Industrial Revolution and into the Ecological Age of Mankind. There is a growing awareness of the importance of biodiversity and the fragility of our current linear, waste generating and inherently polluting model of development. The world population will reach 9.8 billion by 2050,1 growth is inevitable. What we need is a new model of development where cities cease to be static consumers of resources but regenerative and nett producers of useful resources.
In order to create a truly Ecological Age, there must be a revolution in our understanding of resource and the biota. Nature is an abundant source of information with 3.8 billion years of research and development. We have been extracting from nature in the form of bio-utilisation in the past and mimicking the physical properties in bio-morphism. What we are heading towards is learning from nature in the form of Biological Intelligence (Biomimicry).
Architectural Programme:
This architectural project is the celebration of biological intelligence. Educating, updating and changing the perspective of nature in a wider context, relating its importance to not merely its physical value, but its functional potential in sustainable solutions to human challenges.
Exhibition Corridor:
The exhibition surrounds the entirety of the architecture as a continuous looped corridor with varying width, connecting all functions within the museum. The proposed categorisation of museum’s exhibits is demonstrated on the floor plan. Each display contains a physical sample/model of the specimen with a digital display above, describing the bio-utilisation, bio-morphism and biomimicry applications and future potential. The digital display can be seen physically above each display or accessed through virtual reality. The information can be updated wirelessly in the cloud, linked to various resources such as Biomimicry 3.8, AskNature and TEEB to allow constant renewal of information. Every visit will be a different experience.
Media Room:
Media room will be a projection room with changing themed exhibits showing the latest developments in biomimicry. It will also provide opportunities for scientists/artists to visually present information to the public.
Amphitheatre:
The amphitheatre will allow conferences/events to be held on site. Regular events relating to biological strategies will help educate the public to a new ecological way of thinking.
Tea Room:
The tea room will host floral teas made from local flowers on site. The tea room will provide local beverages and source ingredients from local farms to provide a paddock to plate experience.
Workshop:
The workshop space will allow visitors to experience hands on activities involving biological utilisation such as fabric dying from local flowers, honey collection, candle making, etc. The project would like to propose the introduction of honeybees on site to pollinate the flower farm and fruit farms as a natural source of pollination which will allow both farms to regenerate sustainably and provide localised honey as a specialty product (which can be produced on site in the workshop).
Architectural Manifestation:
“Biological organisms rarely bring building materials over long distances, instead, they bring evolved ingenuity to site and create structures with what exists there.” Michael Pawlyn2
The architecture is conceived as an integral part of the local ecosystem. The main materials for both construction and landscaping will be sourced locally, reshaping the existing resources to provide a positive feedback loop to the ecosystem. Mud from the excavation of the pond will be used as main building material for external wall and media room, bamboo used in the scaffolding of the rammed earth walls will be recycled into furnishings. The idea of waste is eliminated, each by product is seen as a potential resource.
The architecture is also an extension of the existing infrastructural and ecological networks. The museum connects the hanging bridge and river, sitting in the niche created by the curvature of the bridge. Local wetland plants cover the terraced roof, acting as an intense biological filter, which constantly draws in water from the river to be filtered and used on site whilst continuously providing filtered water back to the river.
The museum will function as the storage, promotion and demonstration of Biological Strategy, Biological Information and Biological Intelligence. It is a catalogue of nature’s solutions to human design challenges.
Date: 2017
Location: Natian, China
“You never change things by fighting the existing reality.
To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.”
Richard Buckminister Fuller
We are living in a transitional period, away from the Industrial Revolution and into the Ecological Age of Mankind. There is a growing awareness of the importance of biodiversity and the fragility of our current linear, waste generating and inherently polluting model of development. The world population will reach 9.8 billion by 2050,1 growth is inevitable. What we need is a new model of development where cities cease to be static consumers of resources but regenerative and nett producers of useful resources.
In order to create a truly Ecological Age, there must be a revolution in our understanding of resource and the biota. Nature is an abundant source of information with 3.8 billion years of research and development. We have been extracting from nature in the form of bio-utilisation in the past and mimicking the physical properties in bio-morphism. What we are heading towards is learning from nature in the form of Biological Intelligence (Biomimicry).
Architectural Programme:
This architectural project is the celebration of biological intelligence. Educating, updating and changing the perspective of nature in a wider context, relating its importance to not merely its physical value, but its functional potential in sustainable solutions to human challenges.
Exhibition Corridor:
The exhibition surrounds the entirety of the architecture as a continuous looped corridor with varying width, connecting all functions within the museum. The proposed categorisation of museum’s exhibits is demonstrated on the floor plan. Each display contains a physical sample/model of the specimen with a digital display above, describing the bio-utilisation, bio-morphism and biomimicry applications and future potential. The digital display can be seen physically above each display or accessed through virtual reality. The information can be updated wirelessly in the cloud, linked to various resources such as Biomimicry 3.8, AskNature and TEEB to allow constant renewal of information. Every visit will be a different experience.
Media Room:
Media room will be a projection room with changing themed exhibits showing the latest developments in biomimicry. It will also provide opportunities for scientists/artists to visually present information to the public.
Amphitheatre:
The amphitheatre will allow conferences/events to be held on site. Regular events relating to biological strategies will help educate the public to a new ecological way of thinking.
Tea Room:
The tea room will host floral teas made from local flowers on site. The tea room will provide local beverages and source ingredients from local farms to provide a paddock to plate experience.
Workshop:
The workshop space will allow visitors to experience hands on activities involving biological utilisation such as fabric dying from local flowers, honey collection, candle making, etc. The project would like to propose the introduction of honeybees on site to pollinate the flower farm and fruit farms as a natural source of pollination which will allow both farms to regenerate sustainably and provide localised honey as a specialty product (which can be produced on site in the workshop).
Architectural Manifestation:
“Biological organisms rarely bring building materials over long distances, instead, they bring evolved ingenuity to site and create structures with what exists there.” Michael Pawlyn2
The architecture is conceived as an integral part of the local ecosystem. The main materials for both construction and landscaping will be sourced locally, reshaping the existing resources to provide a positive feedback loop to the ecosystem. Mud from the excavation of the pond will be used as main building material for external wall and media room, bamboo used in the scaffolding of the rammed earth walls will be recycled into furnishings. The idea of waste is eliminated, each by product is seen as a potential resource.
The architecture is also an extension of the existing infrastructural and ecological networks. The museum connects the hanging bridge and river, sitting in the niche created by the curvature of the bridge. Local wetland plants cover the terraced roof, acting as an intense biological filter, which constantly draws in water from the river to be filtered and used on site whilst continuously providing filtered water back to the river.
The museum will function as the storage, promotion and demonstration of Biological Strategy, Biological Information and Biological Intelligence. It is a catalogue of nature’s solutions to human design challenges.