Advances in Research for Biomimetic Materials

Abstract

Smart surfaces and materials can play a significant role in intelligent, adaptive and responsive envelopes because of these intrinsic properties. The environmental question and energy efficiency in which the construction sector is involved, is in a process that can not be interrupted and that puts researchers and designers in front of a scientific and design challenge in which it is necessary to contribute to find different ways of study and experimentation on new materials and constructive languages, ranging from the application, to the structural, design and molecular, to mention the main ones. The development of technologies is helping architects of the “biomimetic current” to recreate complex structures that can be found in nature, using innovative construction methods and materials. In this paper, some existing biomimetic design strategies applied for nature emulation are presented with the aim to understand the contribution of biomimetic materials to the design culture. Case studies show the diversity of possible applications of natural phenomena in architecture with the aim to provide user-friendly tools that can facilitate the generation of more in-depth insights, opening new perspectives for new possible technical solutions and showing the potential of nature adaptations to environmental conditions at different climate.