Erosion in architecture: a tactile design process fostering biophilia

ABSTRACT

This design research explores the physical and poetic relation between architecture and climate by introducing a combined tactile and numerical approach to creation. Through a graduate design studio experience based on a conceptual framework, it is structured in several steps and exploration methods to address the following questions: How does the structure of space regulate environmental forces such as sun and wind to increase the hedonic experience of place? How does material change in response to environmental flows of wind, sun, rain and snow? How can physical model experiences inspire architects and engineers to engage in a more ‘tactile’ reflection on natural phenomena? How can eroded matter create new typologies best adapted to a given environment? The project innovates at three levels: its unique corpus of erosion typologies, its combined analogical and numerical simulation methodology, and the representation of the dynamic nature of erosion into architectural morphology.

KEYWORDS:

• Biophilia
• physical model
• climate
• envelope
• environment
• light
• wind

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the invited professors and building professionals involved in the studio: Jean-Philippe Migneron (acoustical engineering), Louis Gosselin (department of mechanical engineering), David Conciatori and Luca Sorelli (department of structural engineering), Sylvain Gagnon (wood engineer, FPInnovations), Nathalie Noël (wood design engineer) and Claude Bourbeau (architect, Provencher Roy).

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

The research was funded by the “Fonds de recherche du Quebec Societe et Culture”, Government of Quebec for the project entitled “Eroded Landscapes as architectural form givers”. The design studio was also financially supported by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) of Canada for its support under the Industrial Research Chair Program IRCPJ 461745 as well as the chair industrial partners.