Biodigital design in the design process: alternative methodology for the teaching of design

Abstract

Throughout history, man has turned to biology as a source of inspiration to solve his design problems. From Leonardo da Vinci during the Renaissance to Antoni Gaudí in the 19^th and 20^th century, and more recently with the work of Neri Oxman, nature has become an invaluable teacher for studying ways of designing efficiently but also in harmony with the context. A rich natural world that provides countless models to learn from. For the writer Janine Benyus, nature has an experience of 3.8 billion years of research and development, its failures have been fossilised, what surrounds us are its survivors.

From this point of view, and with an approach centred on the processes developed in nature, this paper aims to present the characteristics of biodigital thought, as an effective and innovative design tool. To this end, a case study is proposed here, in which, based on the observation of biological organisms and the use of digital systems for modelling and optimising the project, a new conception of design has been developed, an approach to the production of complex structures of a biodigital nature, in a spirit that goes beyond the traditional mechanistic proposal. In essence, it is a question of advanced architecture, of prospection, of overcoming a simple conventional ecologism, or the use of computers as mere substitutes for manual drawing: it is "a new ecological-environmental design and a new cybernetic-digital design".