With the development of the biomimicry approach, new and creative ideas have been established to solve problems in architectural design. In the designs based on this process, “nature” is used as a diverse data source for the transfer of these data to various processes, functions, materials, and structures. The primary purpose of this paper is to explore the development of biomimicry as an architectural approach, with a bibliometric review of research related to biomimicry and energy efficiency. Emphasis on the importance of the need for biomimicry in modern designs is another goal of this study. In this study, articles published in the Web of Science database (2010–2021) were analyzed. VOSviewer and SankeyMATIC software were used to represent the analysis results graphically. According to the results of this study, in addition to the inadequacy of biomimicry research, the need for further research became apparent. This review can serve as a reference for future studies to transfer natural phenomena to architecture in order to solve the problem of efficient energy consumption.

In the current century, due to global warming, pollution, climate change and the exponential growth of the world population, water resources are consumed at alarming rates. For this reason, sustainable methods of water harvesting have become an important research topic of today. In built environments, which are known to account for a significant share of total water consumption, places the development of alternative solutions for the acquisition and effective use of water to the forefront of the agenda. On the other hand, “nature” offers clues about how plant and animal species manage to use limited water resources with sustainable methods while also providing innovative solutions for “water harvesting”. In this context, this research seeks to answer “Can water harvesting strategies of living organisms that manage to obtain water via sustainable methods be transferred to building design through biomimicry?” In this direction, considering the potentials of biomimicry in architecture, plants and animals that are successful in water harvesting have been researched. In addition, biomimetic designs inspired by these living organisms have been analyzed. As a result of this analysis, it has been concluded that, with the use of biomimetic design techniques effective water harvesting methods can be developed for buildings

Tree-like architectures and branching structures are one of the analogical designs that are among the nature inspired structures arousing attention of the designers, inspiring them and that are frequently confronted throughout the history of architecture. Likewise, trees are structural models for designers beyond the plant and branching patterns that are used as architectural ornamentation. Trees have the characteristics of being mentors for architects and engineers concerning how the vertical and the horizontal loads are transmitted through the trunks, branches, and leaves and how the balance is provided. Within this context, it is possible to claim that a quite wide and intuitively developed structural knowledge is acquired with the tree analogies throughout the history of architecture. By the development of computational design technologies, there have been significant developments in the design and the building of tree-like structures. Especially the number of branching, angles of dendroids, lengths, and the other parameters can be defined by using algorithms and can be optimized also by the help of computational tools. In this paper, the historical development and classification of the tree-like structures have been carried out and Frei Otto who is the pioneer to pave the way for innovative structures related to this field has been selected to revisit the efficiency of lightweight columns inspired by nature. One of the experimental studies of Otto in which he called as “minimum path system” has been determined as the case study; the parametric design behind the structure has been analyzed and reproduced by using a parametric software. The structural effectiveness has been determined and discussed by testing the obtained models using a FEM program under horizontal and vertical loads. Consequently, the structural effectiveness of today’s computational technologies and the branching structures that Otto built intuitively and by natural analogies have been able to be tested and the possible potentials that can be leading for today’s architects have been demonstrated.

The bio-informed concept, which means “designing by learning from nature’s best ideas” as an approach, method, tool, discipline or strategy, is one of the most important research areas of today. It does not only shape designs, but also is based on collaborative/interactive/creative methods in education and can be integrated with contemporary educational approaches. This paper questions how to translate the bio-knowledge, which can be an effective and useful method for developing designers’ skills such as system-thinking, innovative thinking and problem-based learning, to design education in an easy and understandable way. In this context, the method of determining and applying biological phenomena/systems into architectural design process through the “natural language approach” is investigated. With this research, it is aimed to open the way to reach more innovative and sustainable solutions by establishing a bridge between architectural and biological terminology while creating architectural structures. It has been shown how to increase the biodiversity utilized for bio-informed solutions in the architectural field by proposing a systematic approach to search for biological systems. From this point of view, this study emphasizes the importance of promoting the bio-informed design approach, increasing interdisciplinary relationships and orienting individuals to nature for creativity and sustainability.