Design Informed by Nature
Category: DesignTalley
I saw Janine Benyus during her recent visit to Salt Lake City, where she lectured at the University of Utah. We had a few minutes to catch up and exchange stories about Montana’s Bitterroot Valley, a place where we both have ties. 3form had previously sponsored Janine’s keynote speech a few years ago at the Sustainability Conference and since then, I have been fascinated with her pioneering work in the area of Biomimicry.
Fish gill-inspired Biomimicry design
The basic premise of Biomimicry is that nature can profoundly inform design. Nature approaches design problems in a holistic way and solves the most complicated problems in elegant, beautiful and sustainable ways. Take for example, the way that African termites solve heating and cooling issues or the way that nature produces concrete-like material in the form of massive coral reefs. By better understanding these natural processes, architects, designers and engineers are increasingly able to find solutions that are both commercial as well as sustainable–after all, nature is always an energy miser!
What may be even more profound than actually identifying and emulating a specific natural process, is the way that Biomimicry pushes us to change the way we think about design problems. Indeed the way we approach a design problem usually predetermines the range of possible outcomes. Rather than asking, “How can I design a better heating system,” the better question is “How can I most effectively heat and cool a structure, and what can we learn from natural systems?” The very act or redefining the problem creates an entire range of more interesting solutions.
It has been several years since I had met Janine and I was excited to see the progress her Biomimicry institute is making in gaining traction with corporate clients who are finding breakthrough solutions to real-world problems. I continue to be a huge fan.
See Biomimicry in action through a fish gill-inspired design.
This entry was posted on Monday, March 11th, 2013 at 12:39 pm and is filed under Design. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
One Response to “Design Informed by Nature”
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David Says:
March 13th, 2013 at 3:19 pmThis is a fascinating approach to architectural design developments. I remember when Janine visited us in April 2010. The most memorable guest speaker we have had during my time at here at 3form.
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