Petra Gruber

Dr. Petra Gruber is an architect with a passion for biology and biomimetic design. She holds a PhD in Biomimetics in Architecture from the Vienna University of Technology in Austria and 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 program in Advanced Architectural Design at the Addis Ababa University in Ethiopia. She worked internationally in inter- and transdisciplinary design and education, at the intersection of biology, architecture and art and published widely. She is Associate Professor for Biodesign at the Biomimicry Research and Innovation Center BRIC at The University of Akron, US, and carries out research on spatial and functional aspects of biological structures for biomimetic innovation in architecture and the built environment. 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.