Fractals, Lichen and Architecture Continued

Inspiration: Organism growth, reproduction, and aggregation

I wanted to further study the concept of biomimicry by looking at different methods of growth, reproduction, and aggregation as they already occur in nature.  The first of these examples was the Lichen, Lichens (pronounced LIKE-en) are composite organisms consisting of a symbiotic association of a fungus (the mycobiont) with a photosynthetic partner (the photobiont or phycobiont), usually either a green algae or a cyanobacterium.

    

                     

    

   

The body of most lichens is quite different from those of either the fungus or alga growing separately, and may strikingly resemble simple plants in form and growth. The fungus surrounds the algal cells, often enclosing them within complex fungal tissues unique to lichen associations.

   

The second organism I studied was the group of fungi called 'polypores' -- or more literally, 'many-pored' fungus.

 Polypores are a group of tough, leathery poroid mushrooms similar to boletes, but typically lacking a distinct stalk. 

   They are mainly found on trees, and resemble mushrooms. Some form annual fruiting bodies while others are perennial and grow larger year after year. Bracket fungi are typically tough and sturdy and produce their spores, called basidiospores, within the pores that typically make up the undersurface.

Consider a spore from a simple mushroom, out in a field. The spore germinates and produces a short, initial hypha (called a germ tube). The germ tube grows and branches, each of those early branches grows and branches in turn and the process continues. The following diagram shows this process. 

Sci Fi Inspiration

Case Study: The Leadenhall

Case Study: The Gherkin

Bait Ball

This warm up asked us to find inspiration for a pattern from marine biology and then translate that pattern into a 3d computer model.

More views of my model

Clarifications of Previous Model

After discussing this project in class I realized that I hadn't spent enough time visually explaining how I made this 3d model.  To bend my pattern I took the same grouping of four pods and created a 7 degree bend in the center, such that the opposite edges of the pods were no long pointing straight out.

Keeping the same idea of my 2d model, I continued connect the pods at each of their edges, starting with one in the center and working my way out radially.

Working my way up in scale, I built my model through layers of spheres, each new iteration separated from the rest of the design by an increasingly more transparent orb.  In this way, I worked the same pattern from the center out in 3d space, rather than working from edge to edge of a flat plane.