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S. Abermann:
"Utilization of the potential of biomimetics in sustainable architecture: An investigation focusing on current developments in Austria";
Betreuer/in(nen): B. Martens; Architektur und Entwerfen, 2011; Abschlussprüfung: 15.05.2011.

This thesis was supposed to find and evaluate biomimetic approaches to sustainable architecture in Austria. By that it tried to address the question, if and to what extent the potential of biomimicry is utilized to make an essential contribution to sustainable building in Austria. This should on one hand help to define the scope of "green architecture‟, "biomimetic architecture‟, and "sustainable architecture‟, and on the other hand point out how biomimicry can positively impact the sustainability of a building. Based on a comprehensive investigation on Austrian architecture, 32 buildings, which could be attributed to apply a biomimetic concept or approach, and by this increase or support the building‟s sustainability, have been identified. Following, eight well suited and documented showcase buildings have been investigated in detail to - at least qualitatively, but if possible quantitatively - evaluate their sustainability. This work reveals that there are a number of challenges that have to be faced while successfully applying biomimetics to buildings. Moreover, in many cases, the correct interpretation and categorization of an - intentional or unintentional - biomimetic approach is difficult: A fully and comprehensively executed "ecological timber construction‟ may be referred to the "mimicry of an ecosystem based on full biological cycles of resources‟, or simply to "sustainable sylviculture‟. Finally, this thesis shows by the use of realized examples how serious sustainable building in Austria could be and can be performed, and of what kind the most biomimetic-like methods and approaches are to achieve this. These buildings implement nature in terms of their materials, envelope, and/or environmental aspect to a certain and individual extent, aiming to - intentionally or not - create architecture that "meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs."

http://publik.tuwien.ac.at/files/PubDat_196419.pdf