Inspired by Nature

“Inspired by Nature” is an installation of the students’ work developed by two seminar classes at SCI-Arc (Southern California Institute of Architecture, Los Angeles) and one course at NABA (Nuova Accademia di Belle Arti, Milano). Each class, starting from a common quest, analyzed and developed a unique relationship with the natural world exploring design at different scales to provide a variety of interpretations and design proposals. The installation will be exhibited at NABA during the 2010 Fuori Salone (April 12-16) in Milan. The show will then travel to other locations during the following months. Synthetic Visual Study Seminar at SCI-Arc (Instructor Elena Manferdini with the collaboration of Anna Maria Manferdini). The work of this seminar aims to extend the potential of architectural surfaces to produce effect through the invention of new breeds of artificial matter. Students investigated the ability of synthetic materiality to produce sensuality, tactility and visual novelty. Through the semester both analogical and digital procedures have been used as agents of design innovation. Modulation of texture, relief and colors derived by 3d scanned materials have been adopted as primary design source. Students used the textural qualities scanned from the animal and vegetal skins to develop new methodologies for highly articulated surfaces through the use of several experimental software technologies (Z-brush) and fabrication (CNC milling). Biomimetic envelopes Applied Study Seminar at SCI-Arc (Instructor Ilaria Mazzoleni). The seminar finds inspiration from the animal world and, through the analysis and understanding of specific animal skin examples, translates the learned principles into the built environment. The ways in which the environment shapes the behavior and physiological evolution and adaptation of animals is an interesting question for many of us. How to translate the lessons learned from the analysis and observation of the animal world is the design learning experience proposed to students. The resulting architectural building envelopes perform and respond; they take into consideration various dynamic local environmental conditions and resources, enhancing and supporting them rather than exploiting them, creating a more sustainable way of building and living. Minimal living Design Studio at NABA (Instructor Luca Poncellini). The aim of the course is to investigate the possibility of developing a complex task of interior and architectural design along a timeline, through the integration of dynamic schemes of organization, structures, and processes. Conceptual references for the project are derived from the observation of nature: natural phenomena, behaviors, strategies of organization and/or evolution, feedbacks loops. The analysis leads to the definition of an operational matrix of relations in space and time, adopted as a base for the project. The tree different scales of design were chosen to support the pedagogical goals of “Design Is One”, a parallel on-going investigation that Elena Manferdini and Ilaria Mazzoleni have been conducting for the past three years. Focus of this research is the understanding of the disciplines of design and architecture within their historical and geographical context in Southern California and Northern Italy and the discovery of design fields through a series of site visits to world leading Italian and American designer studios that shaped the design field at large in the past century. This installation wants to promote the cultural exchange and the collaboration between the two institutions of NABA and SCI-Arc.