Perspective: Real-Time Design and Living Buildings - Technology, Alternative Materials - eco-structure Magazine Page 1 of 3

What does biology have to do with sustainable design? Can our bldg really be living bldgs?

What if our buildings were living entities that morphed in response to environmental conditions? Could façades adjust to air-pollution levels? Could we grow our own building materials to reduce toxins and carbon footprints? Such are the questions driving the work of David Benjamin, co-founder of the New York–based firm The Living and director of the Living Architecture Lab at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation (GSAPP). eco-structure spoke with Benjamin about the intersection of biology, technology, and architecture, and what it might mean for the future of sustainable design. Your work takes a different approach to the relationship between the environment and architecture, where the environment becomes an architectural element rather than something that is influenced by architecture. What sparked this exploration? Over the pas...

Full article: http://www.eco-structure.com/technology/real-time-design....