Diatom Frustule Morphology and its Biomimetic Applications in Architecture and Industrial Design

Abstract

Diatoms are a highly diverse group of unicellular microalgae. Their multipart silica cell wall, called a frustule, is morphologically highly elaborate and shows many fine-details reminiscent of what designers and civil engineers would readily recognize as solutions to challenges in construction. This makes diatom frustules ideal objects for biomimetic applications in architecture and industrial design. Here we review the diversity of frustule architectures and fine structures as well as the way they are produced. Then we focus on the integrated transfer of knowledge on diatom frustules into practical engineering applications and provide several thematic examples of morphological principles as well as of the materiality as central themes for a design- and material-transfer. We select a number of biological silica reinforced structures and compare them with technical and fibre embedded elements for structural load-bearing details and for additional functional requirements. The examples focus on the benefit of knowledge transfer for future building envelopes in architecture and innovative products for industrial design.