Thibaut Houette

Title: IB PhD Student
Dept/Program: Biology
Email: th153@uakron.edu

Biography

I am a French architect specialized in biomimicry, sustainable and parametric design.  Viewing architecture as a potential tool to evolve how humans interact with our planet and its species in a sustainable way, I am looking to apply my biomimetic architectural education and research to impactful projects by abstracting biological strategies to solve our design challenges.

            I received my Bachelor’s and Master’s in Architecture from the Ecole Nationale Supérieure d'Architecture de Paris Val-de-Seine while focusing on biomimicry, sustainable design, circular economy and innovation. I studied how spider webs served as an inspiration for tensile architecture through the work of Frei Otto for my bachelor's thesis. For my first year of Master’s, I went to the University of Kansas to work on local community projects and parametric design for architecture, for example the redesign of the Golden State Warriors arena. For my Master’s thesis, I studied natural ecosystem services for designing sustainable and resilient master plan and venues for large temporary events, such as the Winter Olympics. Eager to solve global human challenges, I also participated in two architectural competitions using biomimicry as a tool to trigger sustainable innovation.

            Throughout my architectural projects, I further solidified my beliefs in the benefits and further potential of biomimicry research for sustainable architecture. To continue on this research path, I investigated the biomimicry method to optimize water consumption through my thesis titled: Water Management in Buildings: a Biomimicry Approach towards Sustainability, with an architectural lab in Paris, the MAP-Maacc. This research led me to choose the interdisciplinary Integrated Bioscience PhD program with Dr. Gruber's lab at the Biomimicry Research and Innovation Center, in order to go further with my biomimicry research interests. My main PhD research focuses on how to implement the principle of biological growth into architecture. For this, I am studying the use of myceliated material for building facades and abstracting root growth principles for building foundations.