This report sets out to the theme of the generation of a ‘living’,
homeostatic and self-organizing architectural structure. The main research
question this project addresses is what innovative techniques of design,
construction and materials could prospectively be developed and eventually
applied to create and sustain human-made buildings which are mostly
adaptive, self-controlled and self-functioning, without option to a vast supply
of materials and peripheral services. The hypothesis is that through the
implementation of the biological building behaviour of termites, in terms of
collective construction mechanisms that are based on environmental stimuli,
we could achieve a simulation of the generative process of their adaptive
structures, capable to inform in many ways human construction. The essay
explicates the development of the 3-dimensional, agent-based simulation of
the termite collective construction and analyzes the results, which involve
besides physical modelling of the evolved structures. It finally elucidates the
potential of this emerging and adaptive architectural performance to be
translated to human practice and thus enlighten new ecological engineering
and design methodologies
