Making Life “Visible”: Organism Concepts in Biology and Architecture as the Basis for an Interdisciplinary Synopsis of Constructional Biomimetics

Abstract

Within biomimetics, scientists are challenged by the interdisciplinary exchange of knowledge and concepts, which include functional principles in complex systems of biological organisms, buildings and machines. One concept, that is used in biology as well as in architecture and in engineering, is the concept of the “organism”. Despite representing the primary hierarchical level on which morphological form and functionality interact, the individual organism, as a functional unit, has been increasingly neglected within modern biology. A similar trend can be recognized within modern architecture: as an integral concept, the built form has been lost from view. This article raises the question as to how the term “organism” and its function in the discourse of architecture can be conceptualized and possibly used as a unifying concept in interdisciplinary biomimetic research. While in biology, the “organism” is a more or less well defined concept to denote living entities, in an architectural sense, it functions as a model or topos, i.e. a commonly plausible semantic form that is usually not explicitly stated, but still becomes operative in establishing form decisions. As a case example, in this contribution, the focus is on the use of the “organism” in the German Romantic discourse of architecture and aesthetics, namely in the writings of Schelling and in Schinkel’s architectural designs. Thereby, it becomes apparent how a scientific term can be transferred into a model for designing buildings.