Since the days of Ancient Egypt, when the Pharaohs’ architects based their pyramids on mountaintops, nature has served as an inspiration for construction.
Today is no different and architects all over the world still find themselves motivated to mimic the natural world.
One driver for this is in the face of shrinking material and energy supplies, nature can teach us how to construct with limited resources.
Another is simple aesthetics, which explains why a design inspired by the shape of a butterfly has just won the £25 million competition to revamp the Ross Pavilion and West Princes Street Gardens in the heart of Edinburgh.
So let’s take a closer look at the most wonderful and weird ‘natural buildings’ from around the world.
Kunsthaus Graz
The kindest way to describe this building is to say it’s like a giant blob pulled from the ocean depths. It’s no surprise that its designer Dr Marcus Cruz’s day job is looking at microscopic images of sea creatures. It’s certainly challenging on the eye but it must have been even more challenging for the builders, plumbers and electricians.
Lotus Temple
Building sites are not known as places of tranquility, with hundreds of workers going about their business to the sounds of banging and clanging. Here, however, the finished product is a temple in Delhi that’s perfect for meditation and relaxation. Built in white marble in the shape of a lotus flower it is set among lush, green gardens. Altogether now, close your eyes and repeat after me: ooooommmm!
The Gherkin
It must have taken some gift of the gab by the architects to persuade investors to spend money on a building shaped like a giant pickle. And yet this huge skyscraper has become a popular London landmark. Completed in 2004, the tower has a ventilation system modelled on sea sponges and anemones.
Sagrada Familia
Anyone who’s visited Barcelona will have been wowed by Gaudi’s buildings but the most ambitious of his works is the Sagrada Familia cathedral. He took over its design in 1883 but the building isn’t due to be finished until 2026, 100 years after his death. Carpenters and joiners will love the fact the cathedral’s cool interior is inspired by a forest, with tree-like columns branching off near the roof for support.
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