Explaining the Function of Nature-Derived Patterns in Architecture in Responding to Human Needs in the Traditional and Contemporary Period

Nature has always played a very significant role in responding to numerous human needs. Human needs have two dimensions of material and value, and this subject has been the source of both material and value views of nature. Human, in response to their needs, has invented solutions that have, if repeated, become a model. The current article aimed to compare the role of technologies and solutions derived from nature in meeting human needs in both traditional and contemporary periods from the perspective of experts. The question posed to attain this objective is: What are the differences in the extent and manner of responding to different human needs by patterns derived from nature in the traditional era and the contemporary era? At first, in the theoretical framework of the research, the solutions and technologies obtained from library studies were categorized in eleven groups and via the qualitative method and logical reasoning, the formation of solutions and technologies derived from nature based on the response to human needs and their transformation into architectural patterns and the impact of features such as multifunctionality, and combination of patterns in an appropriate response to various human needs were mentioned. To answer the research question, to compare the two traditional and contemporary eras in response to human needs using solutions and technologies derived from nature, the architectural experts’ views were cited via a semi-structured interview method. The results obtained from the present study at this stage were that in the traditional era, nature has played a more effective role in meeting the various needs of human beings than in the contemporary era and in the contemporary period, with the diminution of the semantic dimension of man, the attention to the value dimension of nature in architecture has also diminished and the provision of material needs of nature has been given priority. In general comparison, in the traditional era, technologies derived from nature were more abundant in architecture, but in the contemporary era, it is limited to specific buildings. Out of the eleven solutions obtained, according to experts, the criteria of nature as a source of matter and energy and inspiration from nature in the promotion of technology in the contemporary period and the criteria of direct use of nature in architectural design and use of renewable energy in the traditional period, had the highest frequency.