ENROUTE TV   ENROUTE FM   MEDIA KIT   AIR CANADA   LINKS   WRITERS'   GUIDELINES	** Web Exclusive ** ANIMAL MAGNETISM Take a walk on the wild side of buildings inspired by nature. Text: CHARLENE ROOKE DEC A seafront redevelopment that resembles four giant shrimp. A house plan that unfolds like a butterfly emerging from its chrysalis state. Or a natural history museum that takes the form of a cocoon inside a glass specimen container. Borrowing their symbolism and elements of their design from the animal world, these are all examples of a new genre of buildings, cheekily dubbed zoomorphic architecture. A recent exhibition at London’s Victoria and Albert Museum featured famous examples like Frank Gehry’s metallic-scaled fish-inspired designs (including the Olympic village in Barcelona and the Guggenheim museum in Bilbao) and Santiago Calatrava’s bird wing-like Milwaukee Art Museum – complex forms that would have been impossible in the past. "Today, with computers and new materials, architects are able to design and build more freely so they are exploring the natural world," says Hugh Aldersey-Williams, author of Zoomorphic: New Animal Architecture. You could call zoomorphism a form of biomimicry, a new science that studies designs and processes from nature to solve human problems. Finally, mankind is coming out of its shell to pay attention to the natural world. [ ] ADD YOUR COMMENTS > letters@enroutemag.net
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