Natural language approach for bio-informed architectural education: a biomimetic shell design

Biomimicry has been proposed as an important tool to reach key skills for the new century. It has taken its place as an essential resource for critical and creative thinking in design disciplines. However, as emphasized in many studies, bio-informed research requires interdisciplinary collaboration and systematic knowledge transfer. This article answers the question: “How can architects—who have limited knowledge in biology—develop biomimetic ideas and transfer this knowledge to architectural designs?” This research’s hypothesis is that the “natural language approach,” which is frequently used in engineering disciplines, can also be a knowledge transfer tool for the architectural discipline. To test the hypothesis, research was conducted with a group of graduate students taking the “ARCH5661—Parametric Approach to Nature-Inspired Architectures” course in the Department of Architecture, Gazi University, Ankara, Turkey, in the fall semester of 2019. The results were evaluated based on term-long studies and feedback from the students. In light of the obtained data, this article proposes a method that can be used in architectural education and adapted to other design disciplines.