Architetto Tommaso Di Pierro - BIOMIMICRY BUTTERFLY WINGS WALL
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BIOMIMICRY BUTTERFLY WINGS WALL

Architetto Tommaso Di Pierro

Industrial Design  /  Future
Architetto Tommaso Di Pierro
BIOMIMICRY BUTTERFLY WINGS WALL

The term "biommicry" was coined by the American architecture master Buckminster Fuller.
Its meaning is not simply the imitation of nature in its external form, but all that is biomimicry is the imitation of nature in its function.
All this, if supported by organic forms (biomimetic), assumes or can certainly assume a more significant aesthetic impact.

The wall was created because I wanted to design a large design object, which had two functions in itself: the first of "attraction" as an object to be seen and the second of "separation" to be used as a filter between different environments or places .
In fact, this wall is not relegated to the sole function of interior decoration because thanks to its variety of materials and its organic design, it can be positioned wherever you want.
Therefore it is possible to use it in public spaces, in luxurious private environments, in interiors, in gardens, to create underwater parks or to redevelop the seabed.
The inspiration came from the world of Chinese nature, in particular from bamboo because of its surprising mechanical characteristics and so I studied the fibers of bamboo seen through a microscope.
These fibers have given shape to the elliptical holes in the wall.

I wanted to create an element that was not flat, smooth and without its own shape and above all I thought that this object should not have separated two adjacent environments in a clear and total way, on the contrary it had to maintain a certain degree of sensory connection.
In this regard I remember that I immediately thought of some aspects that had to characterize this separation, for example I forced myself to imagine something that should be unusual, that struck and that attracted attention, that characterized it and that perhaps could attract even more people for the mere fact that there was this object to be seen; I wanted to design a design septum, a kind of sculpture.

The wall had to allow the gaze to be able to pass through but at the same time it had to allow a bit of intimacy, allowing people on the opposite sides to interact without being intrusive.
In short, the object I had to imagine had to satisfy several constraints imposed by myself.
Finally I wanted it to be linked to organic design and recalled the idea of ​​China.
Reflecting on all these aspects, I was inspired by the bamboo that seemed to fit perfectly on all my ideas. Leveraging on my passion for biomimiccry, the bamboo forest did not inspire me, but its internal structure, composed, if cut, of a myriad of holes that are nothing but the vascular tissues that carry the lymph.

The memory of this structure inspired me flashing in my mind and on this I based the design of the biomimicry bamboo wall.
To draw it, I started with a photograph, made with a microscope, of a section of a Chinese bamboo cane.
On this image, I digitized the individual holes of a part of photography, observing the different types of distribution of the holes themselves.
Observing all this closely and having the clearest signs of the technical drawing, I realized the elliptical shape of the holes.
Maintaining the geometric relationships of the holes, I began to draw these ellipses on the surface of the wall starting with smaller ellipses at the base and then drawing others of greater dimensions as I went to the top of the wall.
In the end, however, I decided not to be too firm in this choice and I mixed the dimensions of the ellipses on the surface up to the aesthetic result that satisfied me.

At this point I began to give a shape to the perimeter of the wall that I liked to do with a trapezoid with the larger base facing upwards for an aesthetic choice, placing a minimal frame as a finish all around.
The wall was designed straight and the dimensions were about 7.5 m long and 2.70 m high.
To date this version still exists - one of which will be realized in the atrium of the Technical Directorate of the Municipo 4 of Roma Capitale - but for a choice curve was drawn.
The final wall assumed the length of approximately 8.20 m in length and height unchanged with respect to the original system.

Given the considerable size, I decided to insert a passage in the center, also having an elliptical shape and having the same relationship of shape as the other ellipses.
The thickness of the wall that I hypothesized is about 5 cm. All around the wall has a frame of about 5 cm that has a dual function: the first is aesthetic and acts as a frame and finishing; the second function is static, allowing the wall to have a greater support base, already given however by its curved shape.
The wall can have multiple functions, starting from the purely functional wall, it can also have that of a lighting body (self-lighting), it can also be a radiant element.

Realizing the images to be presented, I was able to observe how the wall reverberated to the ground its image reflecting it and giving life to another wall and then I meditated on this concept: the wall has fulfilled its idea of ​​generating a double function: attraction and separation .
In fact, the gaze rests if both images and not only on one of them, are two equal and opposite visions again this time because one real and the other virtual and it is prorpio for this reason they are separate, one is true and the other is only the reflected image, a wall can be touched, the other can never be touched and will always be separated from the line of the plane on which it rests.
Finally in these two images I saw the birth of a new organic form, a butterfly, so I decided to rename this wall: biomimicry butterfly wings wall.

Credits

 Roma
 Italia
 Confidential
 12/2022
 25 mq
 Architetto Tommaso Di Pierro
 Architetto Tommaso Di Pierro

Curriculum

Born in Giussano (MB) il 18 Dec 1973
Resident in Via delle Rose, 3, 00010 - Marcellina (RM)
e-mail: [email protected]

Professional experiences
2012-2018 
Roma Capitale – 4° Town Hall T. D.

2010-2012
Roma Capitale – Dip.to S.I.M.U.

12/2009
Comune di Roma

1990-2009
Professionals of Guidonia e Tivoli (RM)

Teaching
2017
Revit

Publications
2003–2004
The accommodation of Piazza 2 Giugno - Guidonia (RM)

Training
2016
VRay
Project 2013

2015
Advanced Revit
Adobe PS CC
Advanced Grasshopper

2014
Energy Certification, Manager and requalification
Revit

2013
Office 2013
Algorithmic design
Update - Direction of work and safety at work

2012
Update - safety at work

2010–2012
BULATS B1/2 after two-year of English course

2011
Update - safety at work

2006
Inscription to the Order of Architects of Rome: 17493

2005
Authorization to practice as an architect

2004
Security Coordinator

2003
Master's Degree in Architecture


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