Art: Nature Study

Some architects have gone back to nature—and more should. So argues Manhattan Engineer Fred M. Severud in the current ARCHITECTURAL FORUM. Says he: “[There are] few problems in structural design which Nature has not already met and solved. By our own standards, her designs are structurally more efficient and esthetically more satisfactory than ours.” Some examples:

¶ Morning glories do not split open when bees make crash landings on them because five vertical ribs reinforce the blossom, and its overhanging lip holds it together. Frank Lloyd Wright “consciously duplicates” the principle in the columns in his Johnson’s Wax building near Milwaukee, says Severud.

¶ Kangaroos, blowfish and pelicans use flexible sacs. “The material rather than the shape is the critical factor . . . it must be light, strong, flexible and impervious. . . . Now in . . . aluminum and magnesium we have the means.” Storage tanks have been built with flexible roofs of these metals. A slight difference between outside and inside atmospheric pressure balloons the roof.

¶ Eggshells do not fall apart at the slightest tap of a spoon because the oval shape distributes the force of the blow around the whole egg. The Navy’s Quonset huts—similarly curved—have survived winds of more than 100 m.p.h., including Williwaws in the Aleutian Islands.

¶ Bamboo also does pretty well in a storm. Its tubular construction—reinforced with longitudinal fibers—gives maximum strength for minimum weight. The horizontal joints keep it from swaying too much. Columns made the same way, of either metal or concrete, would be strong, light and hollow.

¶ Turtle shells are light enough for turtles to carry around, but are still fairly strong. Reason: the plate that goes across the turtle’s belly holds the sides of the shell together, keeps the turtle’s house from caving in under pressure. The same kind of brace under the floors of arched-roofed hangars and arenas makes bigger and safer buildings possible.

Engineer Severud does not go so far as Architect Wright, who thinks that Manhattan buildings should have floors which ascend spirally. Says Severud: “It is inconvenient to live and work on surfaces which are not flat and level.”