Biomimicry Architecture for Healthy Built Environment: A Review of Existing Literature

Abstract

Health issues in the 21st century have become essential in addition to sustainable development issues. Health is an urgent need to find solutions to problems so that human health is always maintained. Health issues are also influenced by the built environment, one of which is studied in the concept of healthy building. A healthy building has several criteria that can be a point of view to see if the building is healthy or unhealthy. Physiological, psychological and disease transmission problems are the main problems faced by users who use unhealthy buildings. Biomimicry architecture emerged due to technological and scientific advances, in which cross-disciplinary science has become the power of knowledge today. Biomimicry architecture is a design approach that uses nature to solve human problems. Health problems and the need to produce healthy buildings can use biomimicry architecture as a problem-solving method. This paper uses a descriptive qualitative content analysis method on various written references related to biomimicry architecture and how biomimicry architecture produces healthy buildings. The conclusion of this study shows that biomimicry architecture is an approach to using natural inspiration to solve human problems, one of which is building health. Implementing principles found in nature delivers buildings designed with a biomimicry architectural approach to be healthier. That is due to the successful application of natural traits that are always adaptive, efficient, effective and live in line with the environment in the built environment.