May 2015
Complement Your Creativity With Structure. It’s Only Natural.
Calculation, logic, determination…
Characteristics of any process familiar to building bee hives, ant hills, and beaver dams.
Our built environment is derived from our natural environment. Architectural elements are born from the physical aesthetic of organic and geometric forms. Structural elements strive to understand the rules that govern those forms.
A system of hexagonal cells within a beehive is the culmination of both processes. Beauty and function. The creation of each wall supports the next and forms a pattern harmoniously.
Building, on a larger scale, follows the same path. Or at least it should. Design is a process full of decision-making—producing ideas and then answering those ideas with reason to continue or turn around. This is not on a conveyor belt, though; its moves are determined by deflections or allowances within an unaffected space.
The integrated process is strengthened by the support of each discipline. The interconnectivity of physical design components—a wall in relation to a ceiling—is reflected in the relationships of the team members. Decisions cannot be made independently. Each element leans on the next.
Trees and other plant life act as both the builder and the building, spiraling upwards from one single starting point, the seed. Honey bees act as the creative, the brain, and the builder for their hives. The complexity of Design in our world calls for separate entities to work as one which poses a challenge. The best teams are those so closely intertwined that they can act as one, balancing the shifting weight of each decision and member—mimicking the natural design process.