INTEGRATION OF DIGITAL DESIGN AND NATURE: Using Hibiscus Leaf as a Model for Building Skin Fabrication

Abstract

Digitally fabricated facades are becoming seemingly popular in architecture. Digital manufacturing and its recent developments are helping towards a shift from geometry to process-centric design. In the natural world, the shape is structured through growth and adaptation, resulting in hierarchically structured constructs exhibiting complex morphological properties. This paper proposes an example of such process-centric practices with the integration of design and nature while utilizing the living and natural systems which become building blocks of the skin. Hibiscus Leaf, the subject of study, is analyzed concerning its processes, properties, and characteristics, which are used to derive a basic module for building envelope design