Photos – courtesy of Manas Bhatia ©
Manas Bhatia, an Indian Architect and computational designer, has been using the potential of the artificial intelligence (AI) tool Midjourney to create surreal architectural concepts. This is one of our favourite projects of Manas, where he envisions a surreal future that has ‘symbiotic’ architectural apartment towers that look like giant hollow redwood trees. A future, in which buildings are not machines made from concrete or steel, but instead, are live and can grow to accommodate the ever-growing housing demands.
Inspired by the Hyperion tree, a 380-foot-tall redwood in California, thought to be the world’s tallest living tree, the architect seeks to go beyond the realm of physical architectural design to present a series of AI-generated images and drawings of the apartments. He also drew on his day-to-day work at Indian architecture firm Ant Studio, whose projects include retrofitting buildings with new facades to encourage natural ventilation and reduce energy consumption.
Considering mankind’s deep relationship with nature Manas has been researching the ideas of how patterns occur in nature, how networks are formed in the dwellings of micro creatures, and how plants behave according to natural stimuli and such theories. Can buildings grow? Can we design by learning from nature? As designs shift in response to a changing climate, there’s renewed interest in adopting more organic, sustainable approaches to construction that more directly interact with the environment.
Using new-age technology and tools combined with the knowledge of natural systems, architects, and designers (and not only) will be able to create more biologically integrated designs. Don’t need to mention, that the possibilities are limitless!
“If humans could create buildings that grow and breathe like plants do, what an amazing world would that be to live in,” Manas Bhatia said.
