The Natural Structures as a Source of Inspiration in Construction Engineering

Abstract

The specific shapes, volumes and structures of construction engineering are linked to the global evolution of different branches of research and creation. The new materials, technologies and computer design are a challenge in the re-evaluation of the potential given by the variety of natural forms, which can become the source of inspiration for technical creation.
The research and creation process has two distinct characteristics: the idea, the novelty of a concept, and its conversion into practice, its materialisation through a specific process. Nowadays, the materialisation of an idea cannot be finished without the use of computers. With the use of various software, one can create patterns of high precision which can be virtually tested for different real-life scenarios.
The aim of this paper is on one hand to show the steps of elaborating an idea – of searching for volumetric solutions – and on the other hand to show the transposition through an alternative method, preceding the computer model, the analytical drawing with free perspective. The free-hand drawing is the oldest method of visual understanding of the forms but not any type of drawing can mean fully comprehending the form. The analytical construction drawing can constitute a good method of understanding the essence of the structure of the form. Taking into account the fact that the aim of this study is to show the natural structures, the analytical drawing with free perspective are used to exemplify them. Those drawings are a research instrument, essential for the study of organic forms found in nature.