Zoomorphic architecture is the practice of using animal forms as the inspirational basis and blueprint for architectural design. "While animal forms have always played a role adding some of the deepest layers of meaning in architecture, it is now becoming evident that a new strand of

biomorphism Biomorphism models artistic design elements on naturally occurring patterns or shapes reminiscent of nature and living organisms. Taken to its extreme it attempts to force naturally occurring shapes onto functional devices. History Within the c ...

is emerging where the meaning derives not from any specific representation but from a more general allusion to biological processes." The practice is said by some to be a reaction against some of the modern schools of architecture, such as

Modernism Modernism is both a philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new forms of art, philosophy, an ...

and their apparent opposition to nature and organic form. Commenting on the movement away from these rigid and artificial design trends, Susannah Hagan, in her book ''Taking Shape'', has this to say: "The oppositions between culture and nature, so importantly and brutally drawn up by modernism, are dissolving again, not in a return to what was, but a transformation of it...The division between the living organism and the machine continues to collapse."

Famous works

Some well-known examples of zoomorphic architecture can be found in the

TWA Flight Center The TWA Flight Center, also known as the Trans World Flight Center, is an airport terminal and hotel complex at New York City's John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK). The original terminal building, or head house, operated as a terminal ...

building in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, by

Eero Saarinen Eero Saarinen (, ; August 20, 1910 – September 1, 1961) was a Finnish-American architect and industrial designer noted for his wide-ranging array of designs for buildings and monuments. Saarinen is best known for designing the General Motors ...

, or the

Milwaukee Art Museum The Milwaukee Art Museum (MAM) is an art museum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Its collection contains nearly 25,000 works of art. Location and Visit Located on the lakefront of Lake Michigan, the Milwaukee Art Museum is one of the largest art museu ...

Santiago Calatrava Santiago Calatrava Valls (born 28 July 1951) is a Spanish architect, structural engineer, sculptor and painter, particularly known for his bridges supported by single leaning pylons, and his railway stations, stadiums, and museums, whose sculp ...

, both inspired by the form of a bird’s wings. The Oriental Village by the Sea by

Basil Al Bayati Basil Al Bayati ( ar, باسل البياتي; born 13 May 1946) is an Iraqi-born architect and designer who has lived and practiced for the most part in Europe, in particular, London and who Neil Bingham, in his book 100 Years of Architectural ...

which "is based upon Oriental building types arranged in a plan originating in patterns of insect and plant life. The exoskeleton of a dragonfly forms the main body of the building's layout, its triangular mouth of stairs on the waterfront leading to the creature's circular head of the entrance lobby. The insect's long segmented yellow body is the central corridor, dome-lit, which intertwines with a branch of a tree, its stem a road and its leaves the roofs of condominiums and leisure facilities. The colourful berries are cone-topped villas intended to be reminiscent of Chinese temples."

Architects who have used zoomorphism in their work

Le Corbusier Charles-Édouard Jeanneret (6 October 188727 August 1965), known as Le Corbusier ( , , ), was a Swiss-French architect, designer, painter, urban planner, writer, and one of the pioneers of what is now regarded as modern architecture. He was ...

* Fariborz Sahba *

References

{{Reflist, 30em, refs= {{Cite book , last = Bingham , first = Neil , title = 100 Years of Architectural Drawing: 1900-2000 , publisher = Laurence King , year = 2012 , page = 288 , location = London , chapter = 1974-2000 The Dextrous Architectural Drawing , isbn = 978-1780672724 {{Cite book , last = Hagan , first = Susannah , title = Taking Shape , publisher = Architectural Press , year = 2001 , page = 240 , isbn = 978-0750649483 {{Cite book , last = Aldersey-Williams , first = Hugh , title = Zoomorphic: New Animal Architecture , publisher = Laurence King , year = 2003 , page = 19 , location = London , chapter = Introduction , isbn = 1-85669-340-6 . {{cite news , url = https://www.nytimes.com/1994/07/20/nyregion/twa-s-hub-is-declared-a-landmark.html?scp=8&sq=%22twa%20flight%20center%22&st=cse , work = New York Times , title = T.W.A's Hub is Declared a Landmark , date = July 1994 , author = David W. Dunlap Architecture

Famous works

Architects who have used zoomorphism in their work

See also

References