Inspired by Nature – serie

Nature has always furnished stimulating ideas for the design of architecture. This collection of buildings, both vernacular and by important architects, from houses to hotels, schools, and commercial and industrial projects, reveals conscious and unconscious visual analogies with the plant world and explains why natural forms make good models for structure.

Inspired by Nature: Minerals gathers together the work of two dozen architects who have looked for solutions in the world of geology, from the models of organization offered by crystals to the inspiration of the earth’s relief, mineral voids, volcanoes, and monoliths. Among the built examples are a movie complex (Coop Himmelb(l)au), museums (Daniel Libeskind and Tadao Ando), a theater (Antoine Predock), a residence (Will Bruder), a campus (Dominique Perrault), and more, beautifully illustrated in colorful photos supplemented by plans. The visual analogies underline how architects can find elegant solutions and create new, sustainable and efficient architectonic forms by the close and understanding observation of nature.