Abstract
The initial aim of the research was to develop a framework that would enable architects to look for thermoregulation methods in nature as inspiration for designing energy efficient buildings. The thermo-bio-architectural framework (ThBA) assumes designers will start with a thermal challenge in a building and then look in a systematic way for how this same issue is solved in nature. The tool is thus a contribution to architectural biomimicry in the field of building energy use. Since the ThBA was created by an architect, it was essential that the biology side of this cross-disciplinary tool was validated by experts in biology. This article describes the focus group that was conducted to assess the quality, inclusiveness, and applicability of the framework and why a focus group was selected over other possible methods such as surveys or interviews. The article first provides a brief explanation of the development of the ThBA. Given the focus here is on its validation, the qualitative data collection procedures and analysis results produced by NVivo 12 plus through thematic coding are described in detail. The results showed the ThBA was effective in bridging the two fields based on the existing thermal challenges in buildings, and was comprehensive in terms of generalising biological thermal adaptation strategies.
Highlights
The literature review on biomimetic energy efficient building design undertaken prior to developing the thermo-bio-architectural framework (ThBA) showed architectural researchers were paying increasing attention to the solutions organisms use to adapt to their thermal environment, in the hope these could lead to more sustainable building [1]
Among the thermal physiology terminologies suggested by the International Union of Physiological Sciences (IUPS), the most appropriate themes for structuring the architectural side of the ThBA were (1) endothermy and ectothermy and (2) the involuntary and voluntary aspects of thermoregulation
The analysis showed that the ThBA could perform properly in its current configuration without the need to add extra layers to its structure
Summary
The literature review on biomimetic energy efficient building design undertaken prior to developing the thermo-bio-architectural framework (ThBA) showed architectural researchers were paying increasing attention to the solutions organisms use to adapt to their thermal environment, in the hope these could lead to more sustainable building [1] It seemed problem-based bio-inspired design (BID), where a designer starts with a challenge and looks to biology, had been researched in engineering fields [2,3] but not yet fully in architectural design [4]. Attempts to develop a problem-based framework for bio-inspired design are: Biomimicry 3.8 led by Benyus, BioTriz led by Julian Vincent [3], ‘Biomimetic for Innovation and Design Laboratory’ led by Li Shu [2], ‘Design & Intelligence Laboratory’ led by Goel, and ‘Plants Biomimetic group’ led by Thomas Speck [5] None of these focused on sustainable building design. Her research stressed the necessity of developing an optimal classification scheme accepting the fact that there could be various ways of categorising biological information
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