Challenge
Recent decades have witnessed the increasing popularity of nature-focused movements such as sustainability, biophilia, biomimicry, biodesign, and emergent design. Although overlaps exist, there is no common discourse that unites these areas of study. In both academia and practice, the conviction that nature holds the keys to the advancement of technology and design is now a primary motivator. Yet many contemporary architects, scientists, and engineers are pursuing a specific nature-related agenda without extensive knowledge of each other’s approaches or the historical influences that have shaped them.
Strategy
Hypernatural: Architecture’s New Relationship with Nature attempts to establish an inclusive and coherent framework that enables the diversity of nature-related movements to be more fully understood. Co-authored with Marc Swackhamer, the book argues a new position on technology and its relationship with nature, which is supported by contemporary examples from a wide range of fields that directly influence architecture. The book is organized according to seven domains of natural science, with sections devoted to history, material technologies, architectural applications, and project case studies. This structure establishes a clear and comprehensive discourse relating to the ways in which nature is utilized, emulated, and transformed within the designed environment.
Impact
Hypernatural received positive reviews in notable publications including The Wall Street Journal, The Cleveland Plain Dealer, The Boston Globe, The Architect’s Newspaper, Azure, and Build. The book inspired an exhibition that traveled to two universities—as well as a graduate-level architecture studio taught for three years at the University of Minnesota.
Related Exhibitions
University of Minnesota, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Selected Citations
Interdisciplinary Expansions in Engineering and Design, Materials Science Forum, Biomimetic, Natural Complexity, Sustainability, TU Darmstadt
Selected Reviews
“Where will future architects find inspiration? In their new book Hypernatural, authors Blaine Brownell and Marc Swackhamer of University of Minnesota describe how designers and architects have started to copy nature...“—The Wall Street Journal
“Some examples are more illustrative and just hint at future possibilities. But others are places where humans around the world live, work and play.”—The Cleveland Plain Dealer
“When we think of achievements in architecture, we think of buildings that defy nature — towers of glass, steel, and concrete rising to the sky. At the cutting edge of architectural design there’s another trend, though, that’s less about overpowering nature and more about utilizing it for our own purposes.”—The Boston Globe
“...the value of this book is the clarity with which it breaks down this burgeoning field of bio-materialism and highlights the ecology of buildings and spaces in ways that are more than metaphors. Hypernatural is a really useful resource. And perhaps as the idea of sustainability tired, and was displaced by ‘resilience’ as the dominant eco-idea, Hypernatural may give new impetus to an idea of sustainability that seemed reactive and conservative rather than adaptive and creative.”—The Building Centre (London)
“Moving from minimalism to a more nature-inspired take on installation art, a new generation is turning to biomimicry, parametricism, responsive materials and a host of other strategies... Hypernatural touches on a diverse assortment of design projects that owe much to nature.”—Azure