Summary

One third of the planet earth consists of hot and dry (arid) areas, locating mostly
in the latitude of 30 degrees from equator to the north and south. Approximately
70% of Iran is located in such climate, and subsequently, a large number of cities and
villages are situated in the extreme conditions of deserts. High temperature is
considered to be the major issue that the living creatures of desert should deal with.
For humans, therefore, a good shelter in arid areas is the one that could protect
them from the intense sunlight, provide them with moisture and ventilation as well.
However, this could mean great amount of energy consumption which is generally
of the fossil type, which in turn translates into negative impacts on the environment
and global warming. This design aims at creating an architectural form that can
improve the living conditions in arid areas, through mimicking the shell of snails that
live in desert. The advantages that the snails form provides for its inhabitant can be
employed in architecture as a solution towards providing human comfort as well as
lessening energy consumption.
The question is how nature makes life possible in hot and dry climate, where the
sunlight, extreme dryness and hot winds together contribute in making it harder. To
find the answer, we took a look at different types of creatures living in this condition.
Two general categories of living creatures could be identified in desert: one is those
living and walking on the surface such as camel, porcupine and snail; the other is
those living underground most of the time to provide themselves comfortable
conditions. Among all these, we focused on the snail because of its amazing form
and mechanism, which makes its life possible in a quite architectural way, rather
than others using mostly biological procedures to survive. Some researchers 1 of the
Duke University 2 have done some research on the desert snail investigating the way
in which that snail survive, and founded that the secrete lies behind the shell
locating on its back. Its form and structure provide it the life temperature. In fact, this
type of snail can live in temperatures as high as 50C, while its death point is at
55C. The overall temperature of the desert is around 43C and the surface of the
earth will reach over 65C. In order to overcome this deadly heat, the snail would
stick itself to the upper part of its shell, where the air temperature is around 43C.
The shell material can reflect nearly 95% of the sunlight and absorb only 5% of it to
reach a degree of 45-50C, which is ideal for the snail to survive. Moreover, the gap
between the body of snail sticking to the shell and the soil creates an air pocket that
would protect it from the surface heat.
1

Knut SCHMIDT-NIELSEN, C. R. TAYLOR, Amiram SHKOLNIKF

Department of Zoology, Duke University, Durham, N.C.

In the following some of the characteristics of this architectural form are

demonstrated, which would result in better living conditions for its inhabitants:
- Its curved shape result in the minimum surface exposing to the sunlight.
- Its spiral form, shaped from duplication of a unit pattern, provides the
maximum shade on and underneath its surface.
- The depth of the shell allows the snail to mount to escape from the heat
below.
According to this principles, some models were built up of paper ribbons
curving in a way that would make the maximum shade on another. In order to find
the best composition of the form, a number of paper models were built in different
combination of curves, which were all common in mimicking from how the shell of
the snail is organized. Then after, the conceptual designs were examined by
modeling the concept in the Ecotect Building Analysis software published in 2010 by
Autodesk. The weather data of the city of Yazd, one of the cities located in the
central desert of Iran, was loaded and analyzed. The outcome shows how well the
snail-inspired form would perform in tough conditions of arid areas.
A factor that is closely attached to architecture is its construction. A design
should offer at least some practical suggestions for its construction even if it is in its
conceptual phase. In this, the designed form was thought to be built of
prefabricated components erected by dry joints which require minimum
construction utilities and alterations in the surrounding environment. These
components could be made up of recycled wood panels that would easily return to
nature. The panels can bend to form the primary structure of the shells and be
covered by a thin skin of wood panels (cladding) preferably in white color in order to
reflect the sunlight as much as possible.

Life in desert
Biomimicry Design Challenge 2011

BIOARCH GROUP
Art University of Isfahan, IRAN

Roza Atarod, Elnaz Amiri, M.amin Mohamadi, Hesam Andalib

BIOARCH GROUP 2011

IDENTIFY (function)

About one third of the planet earth is consisted of desert areas with lack of water, high temperature in
summer and cold winter. The growing population of the world and the need to live in tough conditions
emphasize on looking for a way to cope with these conditions. The question is that how to start thinking
about living in desert? It can be replied with a simple question: is the human the first who want to live
there? Of course not! However, the current conditions of the universe requires seeking for more sustainable
ways toward making life easy in such conditions.

BIOARCH GROUP 2011

DEFINE (context)
BIOLOGIZE (challenge)

Iran is a country located in middle east which

70% of its lands are deserts. Its population has

grown to more than double that of the last 30
years. Yet, can the country consider more than 2/3
of its land as useless areas lacking the conditions of
life? If not, how should these areas be applied?
How will the life flow through its conditions? What
design attitude should architects take to think
about making the life possible in there?

biomimcry

As
suggests, the human is not the
first one thinking of making life easy at desert. In fact,
there are lots of living creatures coping with these
conditions for thousand of years. Therefore, architects
can take an approach of investigating how these
creatures survive and mimic them in the way that
architecture can.

BIOARCH GROUP 2011

DISCOVER (Natural Object)

What type of life can be a good choice

to investigate?
Among all these, we focused on snail
because of its amazing form and mechanism
which make its life possible in a quite
architectural way, rather than using mostly
biological procedures to survive., like the
other creatures

BIOARCH GROUP 2011

ABSTRACT (Basic Principles)

This type of snail can live in 50C and its death point is in 55C. The overall temperature of the desert is
around 43C and the surface of the earth will reach to about 65C; to escape from this heat, the snail will
stick itself to the upper part of its shell adjacent to the 43C air which can reflect nearly 95% of the sunlight
and absorb only 5% of it to reach a degree of 45-50C, which is ideal for the snail to survive. Also, the gap
between the body of the snail sticking to the shell and the top soil would let a layer of insulation made up of
air protect it from the heat of the surface.
- Its curve shape results in the minimum surface exposing to the sunlight.
- Its spiral form, resulted from duplication of a unit pattern, provides the maximum shade on its surface
beneath and itself alike
- The depth of the shell allows the snail going up to escape from the heat below.

BIOARCH GROUP 2011

EMULATE (brainstorming)

We have to look for shadow in desert. The sunlight beams make every object overheated in desert and
the best and cheapest way is to make shadow. In order to do that, the shells were formed and investigated in
various positions to reach to the most efficient shading of the form. The shells can provide shade for each
other and the whole building as well, as the spiral shell of the snail acts.

BIOARCH GROUP 2011

Shading analysis

The purpose of design is to make

human comfort zone by minimizing
the solar radiation, moisturizing and
ventilating. As can be seen the upper
grid shows the percentage of
thermal dissatisfaction under the
shells which us far less than the
environment and the lower grid
shows the value of incident radiation
of the sun under the shells which is
ideal for the design.
The red line in the graph shows the space
under the shells in a summer day. The
dotted blue line is the temperature of the
environment. As can be seen, the designed
space is in thermal comfort zone.

BIOARCH GROUP 2011

EVALUATE (against life`s principles)

FINAL RENDERS
Sub-Principles
Break down product into beginning constituents

Use feedback loops

Use multi-functional design
Use low-energy Process
Fit form to function
Recycle all materials
Combine modular and nested component
Embody resilience through variation, redundancy and
decentralization
Replicate strategies that works
Integrate the unexpected
To reevaluate the form in accordance with the strategies
suggested by Biomimicry Institute, every sub-principle was
considered to see if it is already existed in the design or can
be applied in it. However, 10 of all the principles were
achieved as the characteristics of this architecture.

BIOARCH GROUP 2011

Break down product into beginning constituents

Recycle all materials
The suggested material for this structure is mainly
recycled and processed wood such as particle
boards or OSB Panels which are hardly compressed
to satisfy structural demands. This material is
gained from the nature and returns easily to it.
Replicate strategies that works
In desert architecture curvilinear geometry is
commonly applied as it has an appropriate behavior
against the sunlight. This
is not only found in
architecture but the nature of desert applied this
geometry as a strategy that is proved to be useful.
Also, as a traditional method, building a central court
in buildings, makes a micro-climate in which the
thermal conditions will be facilitated for life.

Integrate the unexpected

Wind is the change agent for the desert. Sand and
dust are carried by the wind easily and change the form
of sand hills, erode the stones and move dried plants.
The scrub in desert helps us in making life possible in
desert as it eases the conditions by stabilizing the sand
and soil and absorbs the dust in the air besides
shading on the floor of the desert.

Use feedback loops

As illustrated in the slides number 6 and 7, we made use
of feedback loops in design process by making
physical and computational models to assess the
behavior of our architecture.

BIOARCH GROUP 2011

Use low-energy Process

Combine modular and nested component

Construction is a factor which is hardly attached to the

architecture. A design has to have at least some practical
suggestions for its construction phase even if it is in its concept
phase. Therefore, the designed form could be built with some
prefabricated components erected by dry joints which require
minimum construction utilities and alterations in the
surrounding environment. These components could be made
up of recycled wood panels easily return to nature.

BIOARCH GROUP 2011

10

Fit form to function

Use multi-functional design

In this form the space left between the shells is where the life flows. As it is
shown in the section, different spaces with different requirements can be adjusted
to the form. Semi-open spaces provide the possibility of making a micro-climate
in which more plants can survive and help the thermal comfort achieved more
easily, as the courts in traditional architecture did. Also, ventilation is a vital factor
in designing of a building in hot and dry climate, semi-open spaces will help a
better ventilation for the building as they provide a cooler buffer zone, acting as a
filter for the air entering the building.
As we face with hot summer and cold winter in desert, the architecture should
apply a multi functional attitude through design and provide the possibility of
using spaces for different purposes. This is generally done by locating spaces near
to or far from the effect of sunlight
BIOARCH GROUP 2011

11

Conclusion

By taking biology into design the resulted concept would be of its context not far from it. Taking living
creatures such as snail as the inspirational object would lead us towards finding more sustainable solutions
and will omit the costs of nonconformance we use to pay due to living far from the nature.

BIOARCH GROUP 2011

12

FINAL RENDERS
SITE PLAN-

This form shows a sample of what can be built by the use of this
concept. The concept can be used to create various forms to get different functions
from it

FINAL RENDERS
In this view the
life under the
shells is shown
and semi-open
spaces,
i.e.
terraces,
are
clearly shown

This view refers to

different spaces
that could be
created by the
shape of the form
inside or even
outside of the
building

FINAL RENDERS
This view shows
the
space
created at the
center of the
shells
and
formed
a
pleasure microclimate there

This view shows

the entrance of
the
building
created by the
shells and shows
the plants that
could be used to
humidify
the
space in this area

SKETCHES

Various physical models were made to see how will the concept act

Computational model were created to experiment different positions of the shells

SKETCHES

The
concept
was
modeled in Ecotect
Building
Analysis
published by Autodesk
in 2010 and the weather
data of Yazd city, which
is adjacent to desert,
were
loaded
from
Weather Tools and the
thermal comfort and
sunlight radiation were
analyzed. The result was
successful.

SKETCHES

Various physical models were made to experience different shapes and spaces that could
be possibly noticed by architecture

Construction of this form by the use of dry joints was experimented and it was successfully
achieved. In reality, this form could be built by the same method In larger scale