Biomimetic Buildings

[Dover]

Biomimetic Buildings
09/03/2009 by asladirt

"We don’t want merely to imitate the way something looks.
We are hoping to understand the logic of nature, and how it will perform in buildings"






The Biomimicry Guild, a Montana-based consultancy, is working with HOK, a major architectural firm, to design sustainable buildings that reflect and mimic elements of the natural environment, writes Harvard magazine. In one example, Harvard says HOK designers were “faced with constructing a hypothetical building in a desert setting HOK designers drew inspiration from the barrel cactus, whose vertical ridges work as a self-shading device—something that would cut down artificial cooling loads in the finished structure.”

According to Harvard magazine, HOK is now designing an 8,000-acre city in India. Lavasa, the new city, resides in a monsoon-flooded region. HOK’s team examined the existing ecosystem and determined that the now arid landscape was once a moist deciduous forest. “In its original state, trees would have maintained soil quality, stored water through the dry season, and provided a canopy to control evaporation.” Using trees as the design principle, HOK worked with Buro Happold, an engineering consultancy, to design a building foundation system that stores water, just like the trees that once existed on site did.

The future city’s rooftops will also borrow elements from tree design. “The team is borrowing from the unusual morphology of the native banyan fig leaf: its so-called ‘drip-tip,’ a pointed spear at the leaf’s end that doubles water run-off and cleans its own surface in the process. Using the leaf as a model, HOK is developing a tiled shingle system that will shed water in the same way.” Water overflow systems are designed as local ants would have designed them. “During the rainy season, however, there is the problem of where to send overflows; for this, HOK looked to local harvester ants, which divert water away from their nests with multipath, low-grade channels. The site’s master plan will adopt this insect strategy to channel water through the city.”

cont'd

http://dirt.asla.org/2009/09/03/biomimetic-buildings/


Full Article in Harvard Magazine:
http://harvardmagazine.com/2009/09/architecture-imitates-life




Harvard Introduces New Sustainable Design Master’s Concentration
09/17/2008 by asladirt

http://dirt.asla.org/2008/09/17/harvard-introduces-new-sustainable-design-masters-concentration/

[Posteritatis]

1. Biomimicry's damned nifty. (nt)

[Nihil]

2. It's always a good idea to look at how Nature solves a problem ...

Sometimes it will not be appropriate to copy/imitate it but it will
always provide a damn good starting point for a solution.
:thumbsup: