5/01/2020

Headline, May 02 2019/ ''' '' BIRDS ENGINEERING BINDS '' '''


''' '' BIRDS ENGINEERING

 BINDS '' '''




INSPIRED BY SNOW AND SAND :

Karola Dierichs and Achim Menges, architects at the Institute for Computational Design and Construction at the University of Stuttgart in Germany created starlike particles that are dropped into place to form a nest-esque structure, an example of what they call ''aggregate architecture.''

MORE THAN A METAPHOR : The paper recently published by Dr. King and his collaborators primarily reviews the field of nest research, such as it is.

One reference to Dr. King's bookshelf is a classic title by Mike Hansell, ''Birds Nest and Construction Behavior.'' Dr. Hansell, a professor emeritus of animal architecture at the University of Glasgow, conducted field work in museum collections around the world.

At the Natural History Museum in London, for instance, he found ''an unremarkable looking cup nest of grass and rootlets'' by the now extinct piopio [Turnagra capensis] of New Zealand.

''The bird itself was last observed in 1947,'' he wrote. ''Possibly no other nest of this species remains in the world. It is an enduring expression of behavior that can no longer be seen.''

In cascading chapters and subsections, Dr. Hansell explored topics like nest shape, decoration and size, and the nest as a factor in mate selection.

Over the years, through encounters with architects and engineers, Dr. Hansell has developed ''a certain skepticism about what lessons they can learn from birds nests,'' he said in an email.

''There are several thousand species of nest-building birds; each is trying to create an environment to protect their progeny that is special in their biology and environment.

Are there things that we can learn from these structures. There surely must be, but to do that, we must have proper understanding.''
Dr. King is more optimistic.

In his paper he surveyed the array of materials, from the round grains of sand to the slender filaments in cotton balls, that possess emergent properties: When the elements are packed together randomly, the behave collectively in a process called jamming.

''If we think of the bird-nest material as a bunch of sticks that are just jammed together, which to some very crude degree is accurate, then as a material it would fall somewhere in the spectrum between sand and cotton,'' Dr. King said.
As a reference he pointed to a 2012 paper that explored how heavy-duty Duo-Fast staples or ''u-particles,'' cohere and interpenetrate into clump. He also noted a 2016 paper on ''aleatory architecture.'' In Latin, alea refers to dice or gambling, the researchers asked whether design could arise from disorder.

Easier said than done. The Beijing National Stadium, known as the ''Bird's Nest,'' was initially designed to be an accretion of truly randomly placed pieces. But the conceptual goal ultimately failed owing to engineering restrictions :

The structure is a highly ordered 42,000 tons of steel, a mere ''monument to metaphor,'' the researchers noted.

With respectful dedications to the Students, Professors and Teachers of the world. See Ya all prepare and register for Great Global Elections on The World Students Society : wssciw.blogspot.com and Twitter - !E-WOW! - The Ecosystem 2011:

''' Nestlike - Structure '''

Good Night and God Bless

SAM Daily Times - the Voice of the Voiceless

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