Dichotomic reciprocity: The practice of a more intimate biomimicry in architectural design
Date
2021-08
Authors
Bong, Matthew
Major Professor
Advisor
Wheeler, Andrea
Hauptmann, Deborah
Dhadphale, Tejas
Committee Member
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Abstract
Western cultures have subjugated nature to mankind, depleted her resources, and polluted the natural world in the name of growth and economic development. The superiority of man and his domination of the environment has ushered in a new geological and anthropogenic epoch, an unprecedented period in planetary history, where the exploitation of natural resources and living beings is the norm. This thesis examines a spectrum of human-nature relationships and explores the work of cultural theorists and philosophers who examine more intimate connections to the natural environment. Using these theorists of the human-nature relationship, I propose a criticism of contemporary approaches to architectural design that cite biomimicry as a method that looks to nature as a mentor with the primary design goal of efficiency in performance and greater exploitative economic productivity. As it stands, biomimesis focuses on three main themes: organism, behavior, and ecosystem. That is to say, biomimicry proposes design innovation while inspired by nature, this is nature being utilized for goals shaped by Western developmental aims; whereas, in this thesis, I suggest that nature should be treated as an asset to be protected, and a depository of wisdom that exceeds any designer’s enthusiasm for efficiency or productivity. This thesis thus explores the capabilities of biomimicry beyond its contemporary limits, using the themes of organism, behavior and ecosystem, to reinterpret the architectural medium and its design practices in the form of a dichotomic reciprocity. In my position, the term dichotomic reciprocity in this context refers to both the relationship between contrasting agents (nature and the designer), as well as the capacity for intervention within this relationship to employ a framework of affective appreciation into the culture of today.
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