Summary

One third of the planet earth consists of hot and dry (arid) areas, locating mostly in the latitude of 30 degrees from equator to the north and south. Approximately 70% of Iran is located in such climate, and subsequently, a large number of cities and villages are situated in the extreme conditions of deserts. High temperature is considered to be the major issue that the living creatures of desert should deal with. For humans, therefore, a good shelter in arid areas is the one that could protect them from the intense sunlight, provide them with moisture and ventilation as well. However, this could mean great amount of energy consumption which is generally of the fossil type, which in turn translates into negative impacts on the environment and global warming. This design aims at creating an architectural form that can improve the living conditions in arid areas, through mimicking the shell of snails that live in desert. The advantages that the snail’s form provides for its inhabitant can be employed in architecture as a solution towards providing human comfort as well as lessening energy consumption.

The question is how nature makes life possible in hot and dry climate, where the sunlight, extreme dryness and hot winds together contribute in making it harder. To find the answer, we took a look at different types of creatures living in this condition. Two general categories of living creatures could be identified in desert: one is those living and walking on the surface such as camel, porcupine and snail; the other is those living underground most of the time to provide themselves comfortable conditions. Among all these, we focused on the snail because of its amazing form and mechanism, which makes its life possible in a quite architectural way, rather than others using mostly biological procedures to survive. Some researchers1 of the Duke University2

1Knut SCHMIDT-NIELSEN, C. R. TAYLOR, Amiram SHKOLNIKF 2Department of Zoology, Duke University, Durham, N.C.

have done some research on the desert snail investigating the way in which that snail survive, and founded that the secrete lies behind the shell locating on its back. Its form and structure provide it the life temperature. In fact, this type of snail can live in temperatures as high as 50°C, while its death point is at 55°C. The overall temperature of the desert is around 43°C and the surface of the earth will reach over 65°C. In order to overcome this deadly heat, the snail would stick itself to the upper part of its shell, where the air temperature is around 43°C. The shell material can reflect nearly 95% of the sunlight and absorb only 5% of it to reach a degree of 45-50°C, which is ideal for the snail to survive. Moreover, the gap between the body of snail sticking to the shell and the soil creates an air pocket that would protect it from the surface heat.

In the following some of the characteristics of this architectural form are demonstrated, which would result in better living conditions for its inhabitants:

- Its curved shape result in the minimum surface exposing to the sunlight. - Its spiral form, shaped from duplication of a unit pattern, provides the

maximum shade on and underneath its surface. - The depth of the shell allows the snail to mount to escape from the heat

below. According to this principles, some models were built up of paper ribbons

curving in a way that would make the maximum shade on another. In order to find the best composition of the form, a number of paper models were built in different combination of curves, which were all common in mimicking from how the shell of the snail is organized. Then after, the conceptual designs were examined by modeling the concept in the Ecotect Building Analysis software published in 2010 by Autodesk. The weather data of the city of Yazd, one of the cities located in the central desert of Iran, was loaded and analyzed. The outcome shows how well the snail-inspired form would perform in tough conditions of arid areas.

A factor that is closely attached to architecture is its construction. A design should offer at least some practical suggestions for its construction even if it is in its conceptual phase. In this, the designed form was thought to be built of prefabricated components erected by dry joints which require minimum construction utilities and alterations in the surrounding environment. These components could be made up of recycled wood panels that would easily return to nature. The panels can bend to form the primary structure of the shells and be covered by a thin skin of wood panels (cladding) preferably in white color in order to reflect the sunlight as much as possible.

Art University of Isfahan, IRANRoza Atarod, Elnaz Amiri, M.amin Mohamadi, Hesam Andalib

Life in desert

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BIOARCH GROUP

Biomimicry Design Challenge 2011

About one third of the planet earth is consisted of desert areas with lack of water, high temperature insummer and cold winter. The growing population of the world and the need to live in tough conditionsemphasize on looking for a way to cope with these conditions. The question is that how to start thinkingabout living in desert? It can be replied with a simple question: is the human the first who want to livethere? Of course not! However, the current conditions of the universe requires seeking for more sustainableways toward making life easy in such conditions.

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IDENTIFY (function)

DEFINE (context)

Iran is a country located in middle east which70% of its lands are deserts. Its population hasgrown to more than double that of the last 30years. Yet, can the country consider more than 2/3of its land as useless areas lacking the conditions oflife? If not, how should these areas be applied?How will the life flow through its conditions? Whatdesign attitude should architects take to thinkabout making the life possible in there?

As biomimcry suggests, the human is not thefirst one thinking of making life easy at desert. In fact,there are lots of living creatures coping with theseconditions for thousand of years. Therefore, architectscan take an approach of investigating how thesecreatures survive and mimic them in the way thatarchitecture can.

BIOLOGIZE (challenge)

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DISCOVER (Natural Object)

What type of life can be a good choice to investigate?

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Among all these, we focused on snailbecause of its amazing form and mechanismwhich make its life possible in a quitearchitectural way, rather than using mostlybiological procedures to survive., like theother creatures

This type of snail can live in 50°C and its death point is in 55°C. The overall temperature of the desert isaround 43°C and the surface of the earth will reach to about 65°C; to escape from this heat, the snail willstick itself to the upper part of its shell adjacent to the 43°C air which can reflect nearly 95% of the sunlightand absorb only 5% of it to reach a degree of 45-50°C, which is ideal for the snail to survive. Also, the gapbetween the body of the snail sticking to the shell and the top soil would let a layer of insulation made up ofair protect it from the heat of the surface.

- Its curve shape results in the minimum surface exposing to the sunlight.- Its spiral form, resulted from duplication of a unit pattern, provides the maximum shade on its surfacebeneath and itself alike- The depth of the shell allows the snail going up to escape from the heat below.

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ABSTRACT (Basic Principles)

EMULATE (brainstorming)

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We have to look for shadow in desert. The sunlight beams make every object overheated in desert andthe best and cheapest way is to make shadow. In order to do that, the shells were formed and investigated invarious positions to reach to the most efficient shading of the form. The shells can provide shade for eachother and the whole building as well, as the spiral shell of the snail acts.

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Shading analysis

The purpose of design is to makehuman comfort zone by minimizingthe solar radiation, moisturizing andventilating. As can be seen the uppergrid shows the percentage ofthermal dissatisfaction under theshells which us far less than theenvironment and the lower gridshows the value of incident radiationof the sun under the shells which isideal for the design.

The red line in the graph shows the spaceunder the shells in a summer day. Thedotted blue line is the temperature of theenvironment. As can be seen, the designedspace is in thermal comfort zone.

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EVALUATE (against life`s principles)

Use multi-functional designUse low-energy ProcessFit form to functionRecycle all materials

Break down product into beginning constituents

Use feedback loops

Embody resilience through variation, redundancy and decentralization

Replicate strategies that worksIntegrate the unexpected

Combine modular and nested component

Sub-Principles

To reevaluate the form in accordance with the strategiessuggested by Biomimicry Institute, every sub-principle wasconsidered to see if it is already existed in the design or canbe applied in it. However, 10 of all the principles wereachieved as the characteristics of this architecture.

FINAL RENDERS

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Use feedback loops

Break down product into beginning constituentsRecycle all materials

Replicate strategies that works

Integrate the unexpected

In desert architecture curvilinear geometry is commonly applied as it has an appropriate behavior against the sunlight. This is not only found in architecture but the nature of desert applied this geometry as a strategy that is proved to be useful. Also, as a traditional method, building a central court in buildings, makes a micro-climate in which the thermal conditions will be facilitated for life.

Wind is the change agent for the desert. Sand and dust are carried by the wind easily and change the form of sand hills, erode the stones and move dried plants. The scrub in desert helps us in making life possible in desert as it eases the conditions by stabilizing the sand and soil and absorbs the dust in the air besides shading on the floor of the desert.

The suggested material for this structure is mainlyrecycled and processed wood such as particleboards or OSB Panels which are hardly compressedto satisfy structural demands. This material isgained from the nature and returns easily to it.

As illustrated in the slides number 6 and 7, we made use of feedback loops in design process by making physical and computational models to assess the behavior of our architecture.

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Use low-energy ProcessCombine modular and nested component

Construction is a factor which is hardly attached to thearchitecture. A design has to have at least some practicalsuggestions for its construction phase even if it is in its conceptphase. Therefore, the designed form could be built with someprefabricated components erected by dry joints which requireminimum construction utilities and alterations in thesurrounding environment. These components could be madeup of recycled wood panels easily return to nature.

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Fit form to functionUse multi-functional design

In this form the space left between the shells is where the life flows. As it isshown in the section, different spaces with different requirements can be adjustedto the form. Semi-open spaces provide the possibility of making a micro-climatein which more plants can survive and help the thermal comfort achieved moreeasily, as the courts in traditional architecture did. Also, ventilation is a vital factorin designing of a building in hot and dry climate, semi-open spaces will help abetter ventilation for the building as they provide a cooler buffer zone, acting as afilter for the air entering the building.As we face with hot summer and cold winter in desert, the architecture shouldapply a multi functional attitude through design and provide the possibility ofusing spaces for different purposes. This is generally done by locating spaces nearto or far from the effect of sunlight

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By taking biology into design the resulted concept would be of its context not far from it. Taking livingcreatures such as snail as the inspirational object would lead us towards finding more sustainable solutionsand will omit the costs of nonconformance we use to pay due to living far from the nature.

Conclusion

FINAL RENDERSSITE PLAN- This form shows a sample of what can be built by the use of this

concept. The concept can be used to create various forms to get different functionsfrom it

FINAL RENDERS

In this view thelife under theshells is shownand semi-openspaces, i.e.terraces, areclearly shown

This view refers todifferent spacesthat could becreated by theshape of the forminside or evenoutside of thebuilding

FINAL RENDERS

This view showsthe spacecreated at thecenter of theshells andformed apleasure micro-climate there

This view showsthe entrance ofthe buildingcreated by theshells and showsthe plants thatcould be used tohumidify thespace in this area

SKETCHES

Various physical models were made to see how will the concept act

Computational model were created to experiment different positions of the shells

SKETCHES

The concept wasmodeled in EcotectBuilding Analysispublished by Autodeskin 2010 and the weatherdata of Yazd city, whichis adjacent to desert,were loaded fromWeather Tools and thethermal comfort andsunlight radiation wereanalyzed. The result wassuccessful.

SKETCHES

Various physical models were made to experience different shapes and spaces that could be possibly noticed by architecture

Construction of this form by the use of dry joints was experimented and it was successfully achieved. In reality, this form could be built by the same method In larger scale