TRR 141: Biological Design and Integrative Structures. Analysis, Simulation and Implementation in Architecture

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The research programme focuses on functional principles in biology and on their transfer to architecture and building construction.On an evolutionary level, biological structures adapt to a constantly changing environment. In this process, the efficient usage of natural resources is an evolutionary advantage and therefore a guiding principle. It leads to structures made of only a limited number of chemical elements and basic molecular components that are directly available as part of a natural material loop. Through self-organization, living organisms form highly differentiated structures that exhibit multiple networked functions and that sometimes fulfil contradictory functional requirements.In these respects, biological structures differ fundamentally from most building constructions. The latter consists of individual components made of a large variety of different materials. They are independently optimized for a few target functions and for stationary boundary conditions. The paradigm of building construction was, for a long time, to use as many identical parts as possible and to arrange them as simply as possible.During the last few years, this idea has changed fundamentally through the introduction of computational fabrication processes, which not only increase the potential level of geometric differentiation, but also allow the production of porous, fibre-based and multi-layered materials with locally adjusted properties. In addition, recent developments in simulation technologies focus on hierarchical structured materials. This progress in computational simulation and fabrication offers new options for the analysis of biological structures and for the transfer of their functional principles to the macro scale of building construction or other fields of technology. The entire TRR programme is conceptualized as a dialogue between the disciplines: the morphology of the biological systems is abstracted into a model representing the functionalities of interest. This model serves as a basis for technical implementation. The results will in turn guide further investigation into the biological systems. The key questions of the research programme are: 1. How can the morphology of hierarchical, multifunctional and adaptive natural structures be modelled and simulated? 2. How can computational fabrication methods be used to transfer the functional principles of nature to the macro scale of building construction? 3. Under which conditions does the biomimetic transfer lead to a sustainable technology that "inherits" not only the functional, but also the ecological properties of natural role models?The focus of the first funding period was on hierarchically organized material systems and on adaptive biological structures. These research trajectories will be deepened in the second funding period. In addition, multifunctional material systems and the transfer into bioinspired building components will be added as a new focal point of the project.