News
Congratulations!
We are delighted to share the exciting news that Petra Gruber, Camille Breuil, Daniela Kröhnert, and Clemens Preisinger, have been awarded the INTRA Grant for their proposal „ROOTARCH – Plant Root Growth for Bioinspired Architectural Design”.
The project ROOTARCH aims at translating growth principles of plant roots to new solutions in architectural design by developing new digital design and production methodologies.The project takes on the method of bio-inspired design to look at biology for innovation in human design. The proposal stands in the tradition of the arts-based research projects Biornametics, GrAB – Growing as Building, and BIOCOOL, that were carried out at the University of Applied Arts. Tree root systems are multifunctional plant elements that serve as role models for bioinspired solutions in architectural design and engineering. Specifically, structural systems of buildings, anchoring and supply systems, but also novel fiber based material systems, entangled or integrating aggregate substrates, are of interest and hold promise for a more sustainable building practice of the future. A previous study on tree root systems provides 10 exact 3D models of coarse tree root systems. Algorithmic analysis and topological information together with biological traits deliver key strategies for root growth. A set of biolab plant growth experiments will add to the biological knowledge as a base for co-designing living architecture proposals and abstracted information transfer to architectural design concepts. Digital simulation and production methods will be applied to explore the design opportunities with complex morphologies in customized and adaptable designs and processes. ROOTARCH aims to take those methods further to develop novel root-inspired designs to contribute to solving our current planetary challenges.
The project will be carried out by a consortium consisting of the Departments of Building Construction, Digital Simulation and Digital Production, integrating international experts in the field. In an open workshop additional departments and students will participate. The outcome of the project will be presented, exhibited and disseminated in a scientific conference.