The imitation of nature in making smart materials

From the very distant past, human has had a close relationship with nature and throughout the history of humanity; natural factors have been important bases to imitate the nature which has been effective in many of the strategies that lead to innovation in the architecture. The ability of reptiles in changing their color to camouflage themselves, optical effects of the butterfly scales caused by such effects as light refraction, ability to change the color of human skin during the impact, self-healing ability of human bones when damaged and return to the initial state; All are models and ideas of natural elements which have been excellent guides for designers in making smart materials compatible with the environment. In fact, smart materials are ones which can feel environmental events and process the obtained data and show an appropriate response to the environment (by changing their shape, size, color, or in contrast by changing the environment) or have the inherent capability to respond rapidly to the environment.In this paper, using analytic - descriptive method and referring to the library documents; the authors first introduce sources of inspiration in the nature and by studying various samples such as trees, reptiles' skin, and insects' life and so on and inspiring them in designing smart materials influenced by the nature, they deal with natural factors influencing the creation of smart materials.It is hoped that knowing the ideas influenced by the nature in designing smart materials encourages the designers of architectural works to use the materials and enjoy their advantages, especially the advantage of energy optimization and intelligent management resulting from the above mentioned materials.

کلیدواژه ها:

naturalism ، natural forms ، self-healing ، smart materials