Author(s)

E. C. Curiel-Carias

Abstract

The dual purpose of meeting the great housing needs of inter-tropical zones, without further compromising the stability of their ecosystems, requires new concepts that help bridge the gap that exists between the organizational schemes of natural and artificial systems. Based on the wide scientific information available about living systems (LSs), this paper – through analogies and deductions – presents some of the attributes that must be included in the concept of containment and organization of buildings closely linked to LSs. To this end, the concept of the Kiron System (KS) is presented, which is a new level in the hierarchy of hybrid, semi-artificial nature, formed by three sub-systems: ecosystem, the human body as an organism or biosystem, and the building or artificial system. Its function is, precisely, to eliminate the dichotomy between the organizational logic of natural systems and artificial systems; an organization where these systems can link their matter, energy and information processes to form the functional components of KS. It is in the core of the KS where the concept of containment and organization of activities, traditionally assigned to buildings, is modified. The boundaries of the Kiron System become the new in which the building or artificial system (AS) is transformed, simultaneously, into container and contained. In this scheme, the organizational role of AS is subordinated to the organizational characteristics of living systems in which it is nested, and its function is to organize, in a specific and gradual manner, the interactions between the natural elements present in each situation, to build the hybrid structural components in which the functional components of KS must be materialized. Keywords: buildings, living systems, artificial systems, hybrid systems.

Keywords

buildings, living systems, artificial systems, hybrid systems.