HORTUS BIONICA by Studio Samira Boon

More than ever, we demand our indoor spaces to dynamically separate or unify their users. How can we cultivate such a healthy living environment that adapts to our needs, ideally like a living ecosystem? Meet the first 2 ‘sprouts’ of the new HORTUS BIONICA designed for the specific challenges of larger indoor spaces (including workspaces, atria, restaurants and libraries).

Synergy between various users and environmental conditions is the starting point for HORTUS BIONICA: a garden of robotic textile creatures that reacts to environmental stimuli i.c.w. Sensor Lab and with the support of the Creative Industries Fund NL. We believe that a sustainable and healthy living of the future is adaptive and interactive like natural systems.

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To achieve this, over the last years, Studio Samira Boon has developed digitally produced origami designs to implement as lightweight and dynamic 3D textile installations that generate adaptable spaces. HORTUS BIONICA is the next step in merging nature and technology. HORTUS BIONICA explores our relationship to nature to foster healthier forms of architecture based on biophilic design principles.

It is a garden of bionic plants – the new species of architectural elements that are able to carry out a number of smart functions and optimise flows (energy, light, sound, movement) within public spaces. Our biophilic approach goes beyond adding natural elements to unnatural indoor environments HORTUS BIONICA recognises and amplifies the nature like characteristics found in architectural materials, technology and data.

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By highlighting these properties, our aim is to promote architecture as an adaptive garden with a strong emotional and sensory dimension that actively supports the user’s wellbeing. This leads to artificial natural organisms that change their shape in an automated way in relation to environmental conditions and changing needs and wishes of the users. Each inhabitant of HORTUS BIONICA has its own unique functional application and character, both behaviourally and visually.

The HORTUS BIONICA species is a growing collection. The first two products were to be publicly presented at Material District Rotterdam (postponed due to COVID-19) and had a soft launch in March. The next sprouts to be launched will respond to light and temperature and composed of 100% recycled textile waste. The potential offered by this garden combining nature and technology is enormous and we invite architects to explore the possibilities with us. Source and photos Courtesy of Studio Samira Boon.

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