When I was a child, I realized that the “normal” society isn’t my world. The people around me lived a senseless and an aimless life & I was looking for something else. I knew life can be more than grey cities, unfriendly employers and, television and a beer in the evening.  There has to be more to it.

 

 

 

 

MY SEARCH & PERSONAL DISCOVERIES

 

So, I began searching.  With time, my experiences and my travels made me discover beautiful places, inspiring people and peaceful communities &  I got an idea of being a real human being. Now I’m living in a small hut close to the forest. I’ve got only what I need, nothing more. I carry my water from the spring, grow my food and stuff like that.

 

But I’ve got one more thing which many people in the usual western society don’t have: I have the time to look at nature. And this gives me an important benefit: Ideas. Ideas and energy to express myself. What I find while living close to nature is just incredible! Nature has answers to so many questions of mankind. It is the highest form of art and science. All our solutions lie here. Everyone has to get to this awareness by themselves.

 

But what I can show to you is how an entrance to this world has inspired me to think and express it in the form of constructing a structure. A building which can be as tall as you wish. It will have the design, form and characteristics that you choose. The choice of materials is flexible. Wood, steel, aluminium, bamboo, timber etc.

 

 And we can construct a tall/wide structure without using any machines - No crane, just building with  hands. It is possible that a single man can build in a building which is way higher than himself, without taking much time and energy. Nature knows how to build towers (trees) high and thin without using any supports. The growth is simple, geometric & repetitive.

 

 

 

GEOMETRY & GOLDEN RATIO

 

I learnt from nature, how nature grows itself and decided to experiment. I named the building the “Growing Tower” or “Growing Dome”. The concept is very simple. Here’s how I understand it:

 

At first, I was thinking about what is common in every form of life. I could feel that when I look at a plant, an animal, another person and also myself. We all share something common.  But what is it? The biological answer is very simple:

 

1.    FIRST: Every life starts in a dot  (seed, egg cell,...)

 

2.    SACOND: Out of this dot, a line occurs  (stem, backbone,..)

 

3.    THIRD: Out of the line, the extremities start  growing  (branches, legs, arms,..)

 

This is how we build in a mathematic space (from zero dimension to 3 dimensions).

 

Plants, animals, humans, crystals, rock formations etc, all grow in the same way.  But plants and animals are living things whereas, crystals and rocks are not. So what’s the difference between a crystal and a flower?  

 

  FORTH: The difference is the twist!

 

4.    There is no life without a twist, a rotation or frequency.

 

In some plants or animals it’s easy to see a helix or geometry (fir cone, snail). Sometimes you must search longer to see it. Maybe you even have to cut the living organism to see a rotation. If nothing, then you will atleast see it in the DNA of any living cell.  

The most favorite twist in Nature is the helix of the golden ratio. It’s the most rational number you can use. It’s the border between order and chaos. And this golden ratio we will use for our tower.

 

 

CONSTRUCTING THE STRUCTURE

 

We will do it the same way than nature does.

 

FIRST, we will start with a dot on the ground - The tower will now grow on an imaginary line up to the sky (SECOND) - But first we will mark a circle (THIRD) around the dot - On this circle we have to build a ramp like a helix (FORTH).

 

 To start, we have to build a “Growing Dome” to build a tip. Once that is done, we can make additions and let the structure grow tall in a rotational manner (on the ramp-like helix).  You don’t need much power to rotate because the height created is very little compared to the section length which you rotate upon.

 

The construction will be made of  isosceles triangles  only. But the two length have to be in a certain ratio together. You can also use three lengths or more. But be sure that the corner points of the triangles always mark points of the “golden angle”.  This tower you can design in many different ways. (The part with the “golden angle” is not easy to understand, but it’s necessary to use the “ golden angle” to get the tower stable & to get some beautiful helixes)

 

This is nature’s answer for stability. It’s the most stable way to build domes and towers. The helix structure can also withstand earthquakes. Even if one element is broken, the structure is stable and does not crash down.

 

This is one of the simple ways of building, which i have experimented. I was inspired by looking at the nature &  it made me find a solution for building tall/ high structures from ground up (like how a plant grows), without the need for any machines or cranes.

 

 

MY LEARNINGS, IN SHORT

 

Nature has consciousness. It adapts and grows with that the surroundings are. Think about life, growth. while building it. At the beginning we create a building space (dot, line, circle) and grow in each dimension (make the base/ the circle -2D, & then grow upwards – by creating the helix or the ramp– 3D).

 

We learn each step with each consciousness.

 

the cell is the first (the origin, the centre point),

 

Second is a plant (grows upward)

 

Third is an animal (it has movement,  so we turn & move the tower)

 

One extra step of consciousness- The human being – the mover! (the one who has the power to create it and make it happen)

 

Only if these four levels of awareness come  together, we will reach the fifth step – to create something genius. The genius of nature which is inside of all of us!  Try it, experiment with it and keep looking to learn something new from nature I’m standing here humbled in front of God’s creation and I’m deeply thankful for it.

 

Florian Görlitz

 

Translated by Sulekha Bhansali

 

 

Der 21-jährige Florian Görlitz errichtete ohne Hilfsmittel, wie Gerüst oder Kran, einen fünf Meter hohen Turm in seinem Garten

 

Jeder hat schon mal irgendwann etwas gebaut. Im Kindergarten waren es meist Türme aus Spielsteinen. In der Erwachsenenwelt gestaltet sich das Errichten eines Gebäudes da schon etwas schwieriger - allen voran benötigt man im Allgemeinen ein Gerüst und einen Baukran. Dass es aber auch einfacher geht, beweist der Heidenheimer Florian Görlitz. Ganz ohne Kran, Leiter und vor allem ohne Abfall, konstruierte der 21-Jährige einen rund fünf Meter hohen Turm auf dem Gelände seines Schrebergartens in Rentrisch. Inspiriert wurde Görlitz dabei von der Natur. Bevor er an der Universität des Saarlandes sein Studium der Biophysik begann, reiste er durch Osteuropa, Indien und den Himalaya. Er beteiligte sich an verschiedenen Projekten der Welthungerhilfe, wie beispielsweise ein Wasser-Recycling-Projekt bei dem Wasser mittels Pflanzen aufbereitet wird. Die Pflanzen in der Natur faszinierten ihn schon immer und nach einiger Zeit fielen ihm äußerliche Gemeinsamkeiten auf. "Bäume, eine Ananas oder auch Tannenzapfen wachsen eigenständig in einer Rotationsbewegung nach oben", so Görlitz.Er sei überzeugt gewesen, dass die Spiralform auch für moderne Gebäude genutzt werden könne. Ein halbes Jahr berechnete er unter Verwendung mathematischer Besonderheiten, wie dem Goldenen Schnitt und der Fibonacci-Folge, eine Formel, mit der er einen Turm allein vom Boden aus und ohne weitere Hilfsmittel nach oben bauen könne. Zunächst konstruierte er eine Rampe in Form einer Schnecke. Von da an montierte er ein Holzelement, bestehend aus drei Stangen und einem Verbindungsstück, nach dem anderen, die er mittels der Rampe nach oben rotieren konnte. Das Besondere an den Elementen sei, "dass zwei der drei Stangen gleich lang sind". Innerhalb eines Tages errichtete er so den knapp fünf Meter hohen Turm. "Ich kann den Turm auch binnen weniger Stunden wieder abbauen", erklärt Görlitz. "In der klassischen Architektur wird meist nur ein 90 Grad Winkel verwendet. Ich möchte allerdings zeigen, dass man durch verschieden läufige Spiralen und verschiedene Winkel so geschickt bauen kann, wie die Natur es tut." Außerdem könne man, je nach Bedürfnis des Gebäudes, die Struktur anpassen. Mit weniger Spiralen könne man schnell in die Höhe bauen, viele Spiralen machen das Gebäude aber stabiler. "Diese Technik ermöglicht auch eine gute Kräfteverteilung. Der Wind wird beispielsweise auf alle Spiralen gleichmäßig verteilt, was für die Konstruktion für Windräder interessant wäre." Neben dem Bauaspekt, bei dem Görlitz nur das Baumaterial verwendete, und dem ästhetischen Aspekt, sei die Spiralstruktur auch in der Nanophysik sinnvoll einzusetzen. "Man kann dadurch minimal kleinste Strukturen, Atomstrukturen, konstruieren," betont Görlitz. Er plane nun einenzweiten Verbindungsturm zu errichten, oder sich an einer Kuppel zu versuchen. Doch vor allem möchte er einen Denkanstoß geben und den Leuten die Augen zur Natur öffnen.