Sustainable Design Reuse: Integrating Biomimicry and Parametric Thinking in Architectural Education

The sustainability-focused issues of the built environment require a change in architectural education not to form-based design methods but to adaptive, systems-based, and performance-oriented thinking. The paper explores a unified pedagogical model that incorporates biomimicry, parametric thinking, and modular design in improving sustainable design learning in architectural studios. The study adopts a qualitative case study method to investigate Architectural Design Studio 4 at the American University of Ras Al Khaimah (AURAK), where third-year architecture students undertake a discovery-based design process that takes three sequential stages. The students explored biological systems to first identify transferable principles, then implemented the principles in parametric modules with computational software like Dynamo and Revit and then reused these systems to create high-rise architecture. The results suggest that biomimicry combined with parametric workflows helps to achieve optimization but not maximization, which allows students to come up with flexible, efficient, and reusable design systems. The modular design approaches were essential in dealing with the architectural complexity, especially in the high-rise application and parametric tools enabled exploration of many variations and informed decisions based on the performance. The undisclosed final design goal promoted critical thinking, conceptualization, and problem-solving. The research provides the literature of architectural education with empirical evidence as it illustrates how an integrated process-based approach can improve the knowledge of sustainability, system logic, and adaptability in students. The study finds that integrating biomimicry and parametric design in modular and discovery-oriented studios is a sound pedagogical approach to equip future architects to deal with modern environmental and technological demands.