NATURE INFLUENCES ARCHITECTURE

The role of nature seems to be a very important reference in today's architecture. Reason is that nowadays, architects are finding a way to integrate the nature with the architecture without separating them because due to the globalization of design element of architecture is according to its individual context but no relationship with the local condition or even the natural context. Nature is an existing factor that is always influencing the architecture and it is ever changing from time to time, as we know that architecture in nowadays used to brings in the greenery and without against it but to overcome the current condition that could be observed and measured or even estimated for the future. However, there is also several current architecture that is totally ignore the natural context that provides by the nature, with no doubt that human lifestyle will be much affected because every living things are always interrelated with the surrounding condition. To be acknowledged that human needs balanced with nature instead of total separation from it and we seek for pieces of nature in our artificial environment.

I had chosen Nanasawa Kibounooka Elementary School

as my case study, whom is built by Ben Nakamura. This building stands like a large lodge in the middle of a forest. It has floor-to-ceiling windows that let in natural light filtered by the trees outdoors, where this creates a natural lighting condition that is fully welcoming and without against it because naturally the trees is already an existing shading device and he well integrated with the nature and building environment. Futhermore, 90 percent of the construction materials and 60 percent of the interior fixtures are made of wood. The school's energy sources include rainwater, biomass recycling and geothermal heating to minimize the school's carbon footprint. These are to represent the physical factors that to emulate the environmental system that is on going in the surrounding nature where by incorporating the superiority of the local condition in order to well applied into the design as also to initially to preserve the natural environment without changing the life cycle of the flora and fauna which is very important.

The overall wavelike angled plan of the building follows the path of the trees in the forest, walking through it feels like taking a stroll through the woods, this is kind of design that metaphor the general experience that can be get from the forest and it is an intention that he is trying to imitate the path that creates naturally in the forest.

In the school, there are no purely rectangular shapes like in a home because they would create stright lines that do not occur in nature, thus the roof was constructed to feel like it was light and floating in order to blend with the surrounding without overpowered. From this, I can observed that his design is much influenced by nature and predominantly sort of design metaphor that mimic the surrounding forest arrangement which one is man made and another is naturally happened. He tend to overcome the physical factors that the impact from nature is where he is getting used to it and were nicely fit in to the context located at the surrounding of the building which it successfully divides the in and out to well integrate with nature and architecture.