Extract

The range and diversity of approaches in the design of the built environment have reached a productive disarray at the beginning of the twenty-first century. Among these approaches, technology and biomimicry seem to be two pivotal notions. Assessing the technology-based and biomimetic architectural designs reveals the limitations of both notions in producing designed and built structures that fulfil the users and designers’ functional demands. Such an argument is undergirded by our perception of the term ‘function’ in regards to ‘biomimicry’ and ‘technology’ as historical and philosophical themes. In this paper, I will first evaluate the process and products of biomimetic and technology-based architectures on their theoretical and historical grounds in response to the functional demands of users and designers. Second, within the framework of the Actor Network Theory (ANT) and in connection to the object-oriented ontology, I will examine the functionality of biomimetic and technological design approaches.

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