Zoomorphic

"The museum bought the idea on the appealingly oddball proposition that it is "architecture meets stuffed animals". Actually, it's a simpler concept even than that. A lot of buildings these days draw their inspiration from nature. They look a bit like birds, whales, sea-sponges, armadillos, honeycombs, human vertebrae, amusingly-shaped vegetables, prawns, jellyfish, whatever. Thanks to modern technology, it is now possible to design and build buildings like this without anyone suggesting you should go away and have a little lie-down. That's what the show is about... Why is all this going on? Why don't architects just carry on building shoeboxes they way they always used to? Well, plenty do: the right angle has long been a symbol of architectural purity or dogma, depending on your point of view. Those that don't, those who go all organic, do so because they have been liberated by computer programmes and manufacturing techniques that allow them to design buildings in almost any shape. The serious point is that nature has evolved incredible structures for very specific purposes."

Thanks to Hugh Pearman