Biomimicry Methodology

1) Identify the Challenge

• Ask: what do you want your design to
do?

2) Biologize the Question

• Identify functions
• How does nature do that function?
• How does nature NOT do that function?
Biomimicry Methodology
3) Find the best NATURAL MODELS

• Go outside and find organisms that are functionally

similar
• Observe and note strategies
• Comb the literature
• Find champion adapters
• Look in extreme habitats
• Turn the problem inside out and on its head
• Brainstorm with biologists
• Create taxonomy of life’s strategies
Biomimicry Methodology
4. How can a designer adapt the methods nature uses to solve
these same functions to create an improved building skin?
Approaching Biomimicry
Through an example - Building Skins

• Recent developments have seen building skins use

Unconventional Materials and are being perceived as an
integral part of the building.
• Imagine the building skin as a heat and power generator.
Building Skin
• A building's outer membrane, or envelope, regulates
interactions between inner and outer environments,
providing protection and comfort.

• A building envelope's ability to regulate interactions with the

environment affects:
- structural integrity,
- indoor air quality,
- occupant comfort, health, and safety,
- energy efficiency, and
- durability.
• Thus, a building's outer membrane contribute
to safety and comfort by fulfilling four differen
sub-functions:

• Regulate Air Transfer

• Regulate Moisture Transfer
• Regulate Light Transfer
• Regulate Heat Transfer

Skins in nature deal with the same issues?

Regulate Air Transfer

NATURAL ARCHITECTURAL

• Amphibian Skin • Filters

• Plastic and Rubberized Surfaces
• Cilia
• Vents
• Hair or Fur • Walls
• Lotus Effect • Weather Stripping
• Stomata • Window and Door Systems
Regulate light Transfer

NATURAL ARCHITECTURAL

• Cornea • Frequency Specific Glazing

• Light Shelves
• Eyelids and Pupils
• Light Pipes
• Iridophores • Shades and overhangs
• Iris (Eye) • Walls
• UV Protection • Window and Door Systems
Regulate moisture transfer
ARCHITECTURAL
NATURAL
• Flashing
• Drip Tips • Plastic and Rubberized
• Hyperosmosis Surfaces
• Nyctinasty • Shingles and Tiles
• Permeability to Humidity • Surface Coatings
• Seasonal Response to Humidity • Vents
• Thigmonastic Movement • Walls and Window and Door
• Water Vapor Absorption Systems
• Water Repellency • Weather Stripping
Regulate heat Transfer
NATURAL ARCHITECTURAL

• Blubber Insulation • Frequency Specific

• Color Change for Thermoregulation Glazing
• Emissivity for Temperature • Thermal Insulation
Regulation • Walls
• Evaporative Cooling • Window and Door
• Feather Insulation Systems
• Fur Insulation
• Regional Heterothermy
• Shape Variation for Thermoregulation
Limitations in methodology

No doubt, there will be shortcomings when comparing a

building skin to a natural skin.

For example, human skin is alive and constantly

regenerating, while a building skin is “dead”?

To test the ideas researched, and therefore push these

limitations, higher research and experiments will be
needed.
 Applications of Biomimicry
Japan’s bullet train, the Shinkansen, was inspired by the kingfisher. The
initial challenge was to optimise the train’s penetration into the air when it
entered and exited tunnels in the Osaka-Hakata line. Engineers turned to
nature for the answer – diving birds have to make rapid transitions between
atmospheres of varying densities, such as air and water.

By recreating the shape of the kingfisher’s beak, engineers found a solution

to the problem of compressed air in tunnels. The discovery led to a 15%
reduction in electricity consumption, a 10% increase in speed and less noise
for travellers and residents.
 Method Of Analysis

Method of analysis:
Analysis by interpreting a framework for
understanding biomimicry design
approaches, through the paper

"Conspiring With Nature: Employing

Ecological Awareness toward a Design
Methodology"

Thomas J. Hahn, Jr., R.A., president of Sol

Source Architecture in Phoenix, Arizona.
Simulation Analysis
Simulation involves feigning or copying
the appearance of forms in nature.
Buildings at this level do not aspire to
any environmental responsibility.

2. Static Manifestation

1. Literal Translation
3. Dynamic Manifestation
Interpretation Analysis
Interpretation involves an
understanding of the principles and
working of nature, to employ this
interpretation in buildings. Fractal Interpretations

1.Geometric Interpretation
Interpretation Analysis
Buckminster Fuller, an
2. Structural Interpretation architect famous for using
Radiolarian – ocean forms in nature in the
protozoa structures he designes.
•he said that the designs in
nature make marvelous
models.
• According to Fuller, nature’s
dynamic, functional
andtherefore light weight
technology essential is
“optimum efficiency.”
(“Invisible Architecture,”
Bonnie Goldstein DeVarco,

http://members.cruzio.com/
~devarco/nature. htm)
The picture shows Fuller with a
design inspired by the
microscopic creatures known
as radiolarians.
 Analysis
Radiolaria and diatoms,
organisms that live in the
sea, are virtual catalogs of
ideal solutions to
architectural problems. In
fact, these tiny creatures
have inspired a great many
large-scale architectural
projects. The U.S. Pavilion at
EXPO ’76 in Montreal is just
one example. The pavilion’s
dome was inspired by the
radiolarians.

Geodesic Dome – Buckminster Fuller

 Interpretation Analysis
2. Structural Interpretation
Eggshell – Vaulted Roof

Shell structures are intrepreted from sea

The structual strength achieved in a shells and egg shells. Felix Candela observed
sea shell is clear when one compares shells in nature, studied their resistance to
the strength to weight ratio between pressure, their structural strength and why
buildings and sea shells. they do not break soon. The doubly curved
forms of proper shells are the closest to the
natural shell forms.
 Analysis

The shells of mussels and oysters

resemble wavy hair because of their
irregularly shapes. This shape allows the
shells, despite being very lightweight, to
withstand enormous pressure.
Architects have employed their
structure as a model for designing
various roofs and ceilings. For example,
the roof of Canada’s was designed with
the oyster shell in mind.
Royan Market, Canada
Interpretation Analysis
2. Structural Interpretation This is a phenomenon of achieving high structural
strength with minimum usage of material has been
interpreted from nature and called as structural
interpretation.

Soap Bubble – Pneumatic Structures

Interpretation Analysis
2. Structural Interpretation
A construction experiment
by Frei Otto comes closer to
the actual nature of a spinal
column. He builds his
flexible column -from
individual elements; they’re
hinged together and in this
respect resemble the spinal
column of an animal, but
stabilized differently being
held in equilibrium by a
system of steel cables.
These can be shortened or
lengthened by crank
handles at the base, which
changes their configuration,
rather the movement of the
animal.
 Analysis
Spider’s Web
2. Structural Interpretation

Spider Web Structure

Spider web spinning process

Spider silk is five time stronger than steel
and they effectively build with minimum
material.
Analysis

Canadian Pavilion, Osaka

Institute Of Lightweight Structures
 Analysis
Femur Bone
2. Structural Interpretation
The trabeculae is basically a series of studs and braces arranged along the lines of
force generated when standing, This is one of the most efficient ways of
supporting off centre weight.

The latticework, copied from bones, has become

one of the basic elements employed in
construction techniques today. It requires fewer
materials, and makes for a building framework
that’s both strong and flexible.
 Analysis
In a similar way to the curves of the femur, the famous iron curves of the Eiffel
Tower are supported by an intricate latticework of metal studs and braces. Eiffel
calculated the curve of his tower's base pylons so that the bending and shearing
forces of the wind would be turned into compression, a force the pylons could
withstand more effectively.
 Analysis
Interpretation
3. System Interpretation

Termites Ventilation System

Project TERMES

(Termite Emulation of Regulatory Mound

Environments by Simulation) in UK aims to copy
the complex internal structure of these mounds,
so that buildings can be built the same way.
Interpretation Analysis
4. System Interpretation
Termite Hounds and East Gate Building, Harare, Zimbabwe – Mick Pearce

The principle applied from termite

architecture is the use of the thermal
mass of a building and the changing
environmental conditions to cool it.

The outside is made of four massive

masonry and concrete walls which is
both insulation and thermal mass.
 Analysis

Inside, there is a seven-story-high, naturally lit

atrium atop the main entrances to the
complex. The hot air is pulled out through 48
brick funnels on the roof.

The high volume fans run at night to give 10 air

changes per hour and low volume fans run
during the day giving two air changes per hour.

It uses 35 percent less energy than the average

consumption of six other conventional
buildings in Harare.
Prairie Dogs’ Ventilation Technology
Analysis
Many animals build underground shelters that require special
features to defend them from predators. In such shelters, the
tunnels need to be at a specific distance from the surface and
parallel to the ground, or else they may easily be flooded.

If the tunnels are dug at a sharp angle, that poses a risk of

collapse. Another problem in tunnel construction is meeting
the need for air and ventilation.
Prairie dogs are social animals,
living in large groups in burrows
they construct underground. As
their population grows, they dig
new burrows, joining them up
with tunnels. The space that
such complexes occupy can
sometimes equal the size of a
small city, and thus ventilation
assumes a vital importance.
 Analysis
Therefore prairie dogs build aboveground towers where their tunnels emerge,
rather like volcanoes, which let air be drawn into the city below.

Air travels from regions of high pressure to areas of low.

Some of the towers that prairie dogs build are taller than others. Their
differences in height give rise to different levels of air pressure in the tunnel
entrances.

This way, air enters towers

with low air pressure
above them and emerges
through ones with high
pressure. Air drawn into
the tunnels passes through
all the nests, thus
establishing an ideal air
circulation system.
Integration Analysis
Integration as an approach tries to integrate the tectonics derived from forms in
nature along with the efficient systems which can be derived from natural systems.
A Victorian lily has thorns on it's underside
ribs big enough and strong enough to
puncture sheets of rubber. Average leaf can
carry a load of a young kid. The Victoria
produces the largest single leaf plant in the
world and each leaf can grow up to 10
inches in a single day.
FLOATING ECOPOLIS FOR CLIMATE REFUGEES
The floating Ecopolis is directly
inspired of the highly ribbed leave of
the great lilypad of Amazonia Victoria
Regia increased 250 times.
The double skin is made of polyester
fibres covered by a layer of titanium
dioxide (TiO2) like an anatase which
by reacting to the ultraviolet rays
enable to absorb the atmospheric
pollution by photocatalytic effect.
•Perfect symbiosis to the cycles of
nature
Cactus inspiration - MMAA building-Qatar Analysis
•The cactus-inspired
design for the new
Minister of Municipal
Affairs & Agriculture
(MMAA) building in
Qatar.
•The spectacular office
building and adjoining
botanical dome is a
great example of
biomimicry.
 Analysis
•The design,takes its form from the hardy
cactus plant with it’s ability to thrive in
harsh desert climates, very apt for Qatar, a
hot country covered in sand which has an
average rainfall of only 3.2 inches.

•MMAA building, dubbed the cactus project has been designed with energy
efficiency in mind; sun shades on the windows can be opened or closed to suit the
prevailing temperature (thus mimicking the activity of the cactus which performs
transpiration at night rather than during the day in order to retain water).
•The dome at the base of the tower will house a botanical garden which for extra
green points could include an edible garden and use plants to clean up waste
water.
Replication
Replication approach tries to attain the integrated functionality than interpreting
specific solutions like form, geometry, structure etc. It tries to achieve self regulation
and self organisation.

The external surfaces of leaves are

covered with a thin, polished coating that
waterproofs the plant. This protection is
essential because carbon dioxide, which
plants absorb from the air and is essential
to their survival, is found between the
leaf cells. If these spaces between the
cells filled with rainwater, the carbon The paint has been mimicked from
dioxide level would fall and the process of the natural cleaning action of
photosynthesis, essential to plants’ water on leaves by creating a
survival, would slow down. But thanks to synthetic compound, consisting of
this thin coating on their leaves’ surface, a water-repellent polymer filled
plants are able to carry on photosynthesis with a microscopic powder, which
with no difficulty. is designed to decrease the
strength of the bond between dirt
and the surface of paint.
Replication
Replication approach tries to attain the integrated functionality than interpreting
specific solutions like form, geometry, structure etc. It tries to achieve self regulation
and self organisation.

Living skin - ING Group

Headquarters Building has a
blind system which responds
locally to the sun, keeping it in or
out only where and when
absolutely necessary.

-Impermeable to water but to air

-To grow an insulation layer

when needed and shed when
not

-To open and close windows

based on lighting needs like the
human iris and cornea
Emulation
Emulation is the ideal biomimicry or advanced biomimicry which is based on
modelling natural processes to the degree of self assembly and self-repair.

Artificial Intelligence is one step towards achieving emulation..

 Conclusions
Nature is Ideal
Human subtlety will never devise an invention more beautiful, more simple or more
direct than does nature because in her inventions nothing is lacking, and nothing is
superfluous.

Nature as model
Biomimicry is a new science that studies nature's models and then imitates or takes
inspiration from these designs and processes to solve human problems.
e.g., a solar cell inspired by a leaf.

Nature as mentor
Biomimicry uses an ecological standard to judge the "rightness" of our innovations.
Nature knows: What works. What is appropriate. What lasts.

Nature as measure
Biomimicry is a new way of viewing and valuing nature. It introduces an era based
not on what we can extract from the natural world, but on what we can learn
from it.
Biomimicry Guild Database
• http://database.biomimicry.org

• The Biomimicry Database is intended as a tool

to cross-pollinate biological knowledge across
discipline boundaries.
• It will be a place where designers, architects,
and engineers can search biological information,
find experts, and collaborate, to find ideas that
potentially solve their design/engineering
challenges.
Thank you..