Project By: Lindsey Duthie
Radiolaria are unicellular microorganisms that live in the ocean. Radiolarians condense their structure according to the flow of forces by controlling the diameter of the individual bubbles intersecting their global sphere. Bubble clusters with a high amount of small diameter bubbles have a large amount of membrane surface, which finally results in a denser skeleton structure. The density of the skeletal structure reflects the amount of stress that can be carried within the structure. In this way radiolarians optimize the geometry of the grid of the skeletal structure according to the magnitude and the direction of the applied loads. Their siliceous skeleton consists of connected arrays of tubular struts forming a great variety of shells, often with a hexagonal structuring on their surfaces.
This project explores the architectural transfer of biological principles of the radiolarian’s skeleton morphology, in an attempt to achieve a material efficient structural timber system.
