آفرینش معماری به‌ روش قیاس با طبیعت

Architectural design inspired by nature is one of the conventional methods in architectural design, but different types of the influence of nature on architectural design are not well studied yet. In spite of the importance of the type of inspiration, there is not a significant research about the relation of this method with other methods of architectural creation, nor about the correct way of inspiration. In this paper, at first we analyze different methods of architectural creation, and among them, introduce the method of analogy. Patterns in nature are introduced, and different approaches of analogy with nature are classified. Secondly, an empirical research was done investigating the performance of undergraduate architectural students. The sketches were categorized according to the type of analogy used. The results indicate that analogy is a significant method among other methods of architectural creation. The patterns in nature have formal, functional-structural, and conceptual attributes, and there are three approaches (structural analogy, superficial analogy, and metaphor) in creating from these attributes. Results show that the student’s goals for source selection were function, form, symbolism, aesthetics, novelty, process, nature, and climate. The most frequent goal was “form.” The results also show that the students used superficial analogy in their designs more than structural analogy, and none used metaphor or conceptual analogy. In conclusion, this high degree of students’ engagement with formal and superficial attributes eventuates that architectural education addresses the right methods of analogy in design.