what is biomimicry?

Most all designers will benefit from studying certain aspects of nature. As buildings now face a whole myriad of problems that need solutions, it may be in nature that architects can find some answers. Here is what Brett Hoverstott who wrote “What Can Architecture Learn from Nature” has to say…

“Life has had millions of years to finely-tune mechanisms and structures (such as photosynthesis, or spider’s silk) that work better than current technologies, require less energy and produce no life-unfriendly waste. The emulation of this technology is the goal of biomimicry, the art of innovation inspired by nature.” (1)

Already, there exist certain biomimetic buildings. Take for instance, the Eastgate Centre which is a shopping centre and office block. This building was “designed to be ventilated and cooled by entirely natural means, it was probably the first building in the world to use natural cooling to this level of sophistication”. (2) The design inspiration for this architecture was the “indigenous Zimbabwean masonry and the self-cooling mounds of African termites”. (3)