Semi-alive architecture “from healing to self-healing in architecture”

Abstract

Abstract Buildings are exposed to external factors, time factor, and usage during their operational life that their sustainability, toughness, and shape get affected negatively. Those factors also reduce the reliability of building materials and technologies used in them since buildings are lifeless being and they don’t possess the properties of living beings. For decades, scientists tried to transform the properties of living beings to various science fields such as computing, architecture, and others. One of the most important properties is the ability of living beings to heal from damage and to resist external factors. The concept of healing in architecture refers to developing maintenance and preservation techniques but they remain traditional and don’t evolve to the concept of sustainability. Therefore, more attention has been given to making buildings possess self-healing property and making them sustainable so that they last for the most possible period while reducing maintenance costs and preserving them. Hence, this study is concerned with “the problem of the absence of a complete knowledgeable vision of the self-healing concept in architecture and that of transferring the properties of this concept from living beings to architecture”, while the object of the study “is to transform buildings from being dead to being semi-alive those can specify and fix damage by themselves, so they can renew themselves or resist external factors”. In order to achieve its objective, this study have taken the concept of healing in general and particularity in architecture form various angles, from the effects of healing on the user or the environment and also the effect on the building itself, to recommending traditional methods of maintenance, renovation, and rehabilitation to achieve healing. Also, the study was concerned with self-healing concept in general and how to achieve it in architecture with the aid of technological advancements via surveillance systems of the structural health, developments in building materials, self-assembly, and renewal and how it affected the designers’ design strategy and philosophy. A comparison was also made between healing and self-healing methodologies in order to achieve sustainability in architecture before finishing the study with conclusions.