The Monthly Scientific Journal of Bagh-e Nazar

From Static Restoration to Adaptive Resilience: Bio-Lime as a Material-Oriented Biomimetic Approach to Historic Heritage Conservation (Case Study: Rab’-e Rashidi Tabriz)

https://doi.org/10.22034/bagh.2026.567762.5962
Volume 23, 156 (Specified Issue of International Conference on “Architectural Heritage at Risk,”)
June 2026
Pages 21-32
The Monthly Scientific Journal of Bagh-e Nazar

Document Type : Original Research Article

Authors

Zahra Keynezhad
Farhad Akhundi

Department of Architectural Technology, Faculty of Architecture and Urban Planning, Tabriz Islamic Art University, Tabriz, Iran

Abstract
Problem statement: In recent years, the increasing frequency of natural and human-induced crises, such as earthquakes, war, and climate change, has created serious challenges for the conservation and reconstruction of historic architectural heritage. Conventional approaches to restoration and reconstruction are predominantly reproductive and form-oriented in nature, paying limited attention to adaptive, temporal, and resilient mechanisms at the material level. In this context, biomimetics, as an approach inspired by the behavioral and process-based logic of nature, can provide a theoretical foundation for rethinking the adaptive reconstruction of historic heritage, particularly when it moves beyond mere formal imitation and becomes oriented toward the behavior of materials.
Research objective: Focusing on Bio-Lime as an example of material-oriented biomimetics, this study seeks to explain the capacities of self-healing lime-based materials in the restoration and adaptive reconstruction of architectural heritage.
Research method: This study employed a comparative analysis and a systematic review of recent studies in the fields of self-healing materials, lime mortars, and bio-based additives. The selected studies were analyzed according to criteria such as material type, self-healing mechanism, degree of compatibility with historic restoration, and functional outcomes.
Conclusion: The findings indicate that, unlike conventional self-healing systems based on concrete, lime-based materials—and Bio-Lime in particular—possess an inherent capacity for gradual, low-energy, and historically compatible self-healing through natural processes such as carbonation, rehydration, and microstructural modification. The findings further suggest that bio-based additives can purposefully enhance this capacity and contribute to improving the durability and physical resilience of historic buildings without causing chemical incompatibility. Accordingly, this study proposes a conceptual framework for adaptive reconstruction based on material-oriented biomimetics, which can support a transition from static restoration toward adaptive and future-oriented reconstruction in historic sites in Iran, particularly Rabʿ-e Rashidi in Tabriz.

Keywords

Biomimetics
Architectural Resilience
Historic Heritage
Adaptive Reconstruction
Bio-Lime.
Subjects
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