Let's close the biology and mimicry thread that started two days ago with a post briefly looking at two buildings that can be considered as very good examples of biologically inspired architectures and that may provide further inspirations also for interior/fashion and accessory designers (jewellery designers, I actually suspect this post may be rather interesting for you as well).
The first one is the Spiral Apartment House (1984-1989) located on a hillside in Ramat Gan, Israel, this is a particularly intriguing structure designed by Zvi Hecker.
The sketches showing the studies and the research behind the house have an Escherian quality about them, the building is indeed a gigant spiral staircase that derives its energy from the rotation of a spiral, but that incorporates elements inspired by other animal forms as well.
The spiral shape prevails obviously: it elevates the building upwards from its shaded lower floors to its open terraces,and the shape is also influenced by variations that create more complex spiralling forms. For example, rather than being supported by a classic load bearing column, inside the building there is an interior courtyard, while the apartments are fan-shaped.
While the materials employed for this structure, especially the white plaster and the raw pink stones, are usually associated with old or poor neighbourhoods, the house also evokes in its structure the terracing typical of Arab villages, while speaking the international language of geometrical shapes and forms.
Hecker explains on his site that The Spiral House "is a work of incomplete precision. Because it is so precise it can't be really finished. No limit to the precision one can achieve. The Spiral's incompleteness is also its poetry, because poetry is the most precise expression of our need for precision."
"Expressive as it is, the Spiral can't be fully understood. It speaks to many languages at one and the same time. It speaks Arabic about the human condition. It argues in Hebrew abourt the sheer necessity to bring the muscles and materials together, but it is quite fluent in Russian when construction becomes architecture. Its Italian is very Baroque, as spoken in Piemonte by Guarino Guarini. The Spiral is a tower of Babel in miniature."
Another notable example of bilogically inspired architecture is the Gaudi-style nine-story building known as The Crazy House (1985), designed by Syrian-born architect Leon Gaignebet (also known as Leon Geneva).
Located in 181 HaYarkon Street, Tel Aviv, the building features gravel, shells, sand, natural wood and plants embedded in one façade, while the front-facing side integrates a metal-and-concrete structure with balconies shaped like waves. According to the architect the building is also a combination of juxtapositions, such as east VS west, masculine Vs feminine and mineral Vs natural. So, what's your choice, do you feel more like a "spiral" or a "crazy" designer?
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