Dr. Petra Gruber
Title: Adjunct Professor
Dept/Program: Department of Biology
Office: ASEC E505
Phone: 330-972-6303
Email: pgruber@uakron.edu
Biography
Dr. Petra Gruber is an architect with a strong interest in inter- and transdisciplinary design.
Apart from her professional work as an architect, she holds a Ph.D. in Biomimetics in Architecture from the Vienna University of Technology in Austria. She also collaborated as a research fellow at the Centre for Biomimetics at The University of Reading, UK.
She taught Biomimetics in Energy Systems at the University of Applied Sciences in Villach, Austria, and held lectures and workshops at universities worldwide.
As a visiting professor for Architectural Design and Building Science, she set up a master's program in Advanced Architectural Design at the Addis Ababa University in Ethiopia.
Her research spans from projects for the European Space Agency on lunar base design informed by folding principles from nature to arts-based research on the translation of growth principles from nature into proto-architectural spatial solutions.
Dr. Gruber is based at the Myers School of Arts and the Department of Biology for the Biomimicry Research and Innovation Center or BRIC.
Publications
Selected Publications
Imhof, B., Gruber, P. (Eds.) 2015. Built to grow - Blending Architecture and Biology. Edition Angewandte, Birkhäuser Verlag Vienna Austria. www.growingasbuilding.org
Gruber, P., Imhof B. (Eds.). What is the architect doing in the jungle? Biornametics - Architecture defined by natural patterns. Edition Angewandte, Springer Vienna Austria. www.biornametics.com
Jeronimidis, G., Gruber, P. (Eds.) 2012. Special Issue on Bioinspired Architecture / Construction. in: Bioinspiration and Biomimetics.
Bruckner, D., Gebeshuber, I. C., Gruber, P., Hellmich, C., Stachelberger, H. (Eds.) 2011. Bionics: Materials - Structures - Processes, examples, ideas and case studies. Springer. ISBN 978-3-642-11933-0
Gruber P. Biomimetics in Architecture - Architecture of Life and Buildings. Springer. ISBN 978-3-7091-0331-9
Gebeshuber, I. C., Gruber, P., and Imhof, B. 2012. Biornametics. in Bhushan, B. Nosonovsky M. (Eds.) Springer Encyclopedia of Nanotechnology. Springer, Berlin Heidelberg New York
Gebeshuber, I. C., Gruber, P., Drack, M. 2009. A gaze into the crystal ball - biomimetics in the year 2059. Proc. IMechE Part C: J. Mech. Eng. Sci. 223(C12), 50st Anniversary Issue: 2899-2918. doi: 10.1243/09544062JMES1563
Education
Ph.D. in Biomimetics in Architecture, Vienna University of Technology in Austria, 2008
Diploma in Architectural Design at Vienna University of Technology in Austria, 1999