Biomimicry

ELECTIVES III

BIOMIMICRY NAME: BHAKTI SHET (B - 15) Fourth Year B.Arch.

2020 - 21

INDIRA COLLEGE FOR ARCHITECTURE AND DESIGN

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CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION EVOLUTION OF THE CONCEPT LITERATURE REVIEW CASE STUDIES – Mind Map CASE STUDIES – Description DESIGN PROCESS DESIGN OUTCOME CONCLUSION REFERENCES

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INTRODUCTION Biomimicry is the imitation of the models, systems, and elements of nature for the purpose of solving complex human problems; biomimicry in architecture and manufacturing is the practice of designing buildings and products that simulate or co-opt processes that occur in nature. The term Biomimetic architecture refers to the study and application of construction principles which are found in natural environments and species, and are translated into the design of sustainable solutions for architecture. Biomimetic architecture uses nature as a model, measure, and mentor for providing architectural solutions across scales, which are inspired by natural organisms that have solved similar problems in nature. Using nature as a measure refers to using an ecological standard of measuring sustainability, and efficiency of man-made innovations, while the term mentor refers to learning from natural principles and using biology as an inspirational source.

Biomorphic architecture, also referred to as Bio-decoration, on the other hand, refers to the use of formal and geometric elements found in nature, as a source of inspiration for aesthetic properties in designed architecture, and may not necessarily have non-physical, or economic functions. A historic example of biomorphic architecture dates back to Egyptian, Greek and Roman cultures, using tree and plant forms in the ornamentation of structural columns.

Within Biomimetic architecture, two basic procedures can be identified, namely, the bottom-up approach (biology push) and top-down approach (technology pull). The boundary between these is blurry with the possibility of transitioning between the two approaches depending on individual cases.

Biomimetic architecture is typically carried out in highly interdisciplinary teams in which biologists and other natural scientists work in collaboration with engineers, scientists, and designers. In the bottom-up approach, the starting point is a new result from basic biological research promising for biomimetic implementation. For example, developing a biomimetic material system after the quantitative analysis of the mechanical, physical, and chemical properties of a biological system.

Mimicking nature requires understanding the differences between biological and technical systems. Their evolution is dissimilar: biological systems have BHAKTI SHET | INDIRA COLLEGE OF ARCHITECTURE AND DESIGN | FOURTH YEAR B. Arch. | 2020-21

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been evolving for millions of years, whereas the technical systems have been developing for only a few hundred years. Biological systems evolved based on their genetic codes governed by natural selection, while technical systems developed based on human design for performing functions. In general, functions in technical systems aim to develop a system as a result of design, while in biological systems, functions can occasionally be an unsystematic genetic evolutionary change that leads to a particular function that is not prearranged. Their differences are wide: technical systems function within extensive environments, while biological systems work within restricted living constraints.

What Is Biomimicry?

Biomimicry (literally: imitation of the living) aims to take inspiration from natural selection solutions adopted by nature and translate the principles to human engineering. The biomimicry approach aims to favour “choices” tested by nature which had millions of years to understand what works best and what doesn’t. Designs following biometrics will ultimately allow human productions to be more efficient, resilient, and sustainable.

History Architecture has long drawn from nature as a source of inspiration. Bio morphism, or the incorporation of natural existing elements as inspiration in design, originated possibly with the beginning of man-made environments and remains present today. The ancient Greeks and Romans incorporated natural motifs into design such as the tree-inspired columns. Late Antique and Byzantine arabesque tendrils are stylized versions of the acanthus plant.

Varro's Aviary at Casinum from 64 BC reconstructed a world in miniature. A pond surrounded a domed structure at one end that held a variety of birds. A stone colonnaded portico had intermediate columns of living trees.

The Sagrada Familia church by Antoni Gaudi begun in 1882 is a well-known example of using nature's functional forms to answer a structural problem. He used columns that modelled the branching canopies of trees to solve statics problems in supporting the vault.

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Sagrada-Familia-arches Organic architecture uses nature-inspired geometrical forms in design and seeks to reconnect the human with his or her surroundings. Kendrick Bangs Kellogg, a practicing organic architect, believes that “above all, organic architecture should constantly remind us not to take Mother Nature for granted – work with her and allow her to guide your life. Inhibit her, and humanity will be the loser.” This falls in line with another guiding principle, which is that form should follow flow and not work against the dynamic forces of nature. Architect Daniel Liebermann's commentary on organic architecture as a movement highlights the role of nature in building: “…a truer understanding of how we see, with our mind and eye, is the foundation of everything organic. Man’s eye and brain evolved over aeons of time, most of which were within the vast untrammelled and unpaved landscape of our Edenic biosphere! We must go to Nature for our models now that is clear!”

Organic architects use man-made solutions with nature-inspired aesthetics to bring about an awareness of the natural environment rather than relying on nature's solutions to answer man's problems.

Evolution of the concept Nature and natural processes are the guiding principles or the main metaphors of the design approach. – Frank Lloyd Wright. Biomimicry or biomimetics is the adoption of strategies, processes, or models in nature to solve complex design challenges. Biomimicry in Architecture is the designing of buildings or systems which stimulate the cycles occurring in nature. A lead engineering professor at Princeton, Sigrid Andreessen talks about the ability of nature to convert waste to food – a cycle that has been ignored in Architecture.

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Biomimicry has been studied only for the past half-century, but the incorporation of nature into buildings had begun much before…The Golden Ratio. The Golden ratio reflects the pattern of growing spirals in nature. The golden ratio can be seen all around us – in flower petals, shells, pinecones, pineapple spires, DNA molecules, and even in hurricanes. The golden ratio 1was used to design the Parthenon, a temple to worship Athena in the Acropolis of Greece. The golden ratio is also known as the Fibonacci sequence, which is the mathematical equation wherein the longer part divided by the smaller part, equals to the sum part both parts divided by longer part, both of which equals 1.618. The golden ratio is seen all around us and is considered the beauty enhancing factor; hence the use of golden ratio often results in a perfectly proportioned design.

Ornamentation was predominantly inspired by nature. The use of organic elements adds a graceful component to the design. The addition of organic components can be seen from the Greek Ionic column to Art Deco. Nature was always worshipped through the course of mankind. The idea of ornamentation complementing nature symbolized respect towards Mother Earth and nature. The element of nature also created contrast in this manmade world. The organic forms were also used to bring in a layer of complexity to the plain surfaces and straight lines.

In the 14th century, Vitruvius man was drawn by Leonardo Da Vinci based on the works of the Roman architect, Vitruvius. Vitruvian man is the study of ideal proportions of the human form. The idea of proportions from the Vitruvian man was implemented in the designs by Da Vinci and Andrea Palladio.

Golden ratio- nautilus shell ©Kiwi Hellenist

Golden Ratio ©Nature

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Vitruvian Man ©Wikipedia In recent times, Biomimicry has been thoroughly studied and implemented by architects and designers across the globe. Biomimicry can be seen adapted in three levels: 1. Behaviour Level The East gate Centre designed by architect Mick Pearce in conjunction with engineers at Arup Associates showcases the behavioural level of biomimicry.

Biomimicry practices Critical Regionalism, a system evolved to withstand the geographical and climatic conditions of its location. The building works with Passive Ventilation. The exterior skin has multiple minute openings which reduce heat gain and allows the building to breathe. The high thermal mass of the concrete and earth construction absorbs heat during the day, keeping the interiors cool. At night this heat is radiated into the building to warm the night air. This enables a drastic reduction in energy consumption.

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2. Organism Level 30 St. Mary Axe, London also known as the Gherkin would be the example for Biomimicry at an organism level. The building has an air ventilation system like the sea sponges and anemones. The sponges have evolved a system of directing fluids directly through their body. The ventilation system involves open green pockets which also provide for as a break space for the people working inside the building.

3. Ecosystem Level The ecosystem-level showcases systems involved in the circular economy and a circular consumption cycle. The Cardboard to Caviar Project founded by Graham Wiles in Wakefield, UK has successfully converted waste to food. The cardboard disposal was causing a problem for the community of Wakefield.

The hunting of caviar in the Caspian Sea has led to the commercial extinction of caviar. The cardboard to caviar project was developed to solve both the problems using a circular consumption cycle. The cardboard is sold to equestrian centres as horse bedding. The waste is fed to the microorganisms in the compost. The plumped worms are fed to the sturgeon to produce caviar.

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LITRATURE REVIEW DESIGN PRINCIPLES AND PARAMETERS CONSIDERED FOR BIOMIMETIC ARCHITECTURE Innovation Inspired by Nature, nine principles of nature were enumerated, which are also the basic principles underpinning the concept of biomimicry.

They are the following: nature runs on sunlight; nature uses only the energy it needs; nature fits form to function; nature recycles everything; nature rewards cooperation; nature banks on diversity; nature demands local expertise; nature curbs excesses from within; and nature taps the power of limits. However, the Biomimicry Institute postulated the biomimicry principles which are an expanded and comprehensive version of the principles of nature. These principles are abstracted biological strategies, some of which are obvious and self-explanatory, that can be found in most of the organisms and which enable life to be successful in regenerating itself. They are creative common tools through which biomimetic designs, materials, and applications are evaluated for sustainability. They are important checklists to be adhered to in ensuring the application of biomimicry resulting in sustainable outcomes. According to the Biomimicry Group, the six major principles of biomimicry and their constituting twenty-three principles are:

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1.Resource (material and energy) efficient This is skilfully and conservatively taking advantage of resources and opportunities. It consists of four principles, namely using multifunctional design (meet multiple needs with one elegant solution); using low energy processes (minimise energy consumption by reducing requisite temperatures, pressures, and/or time for reactions); recycling all materials (keep all materials in a closed loop); and fitting form to function (select shape or pattern based on need).

2. Evolve to survive This is the continuous incorporation and embodying of information to ensure enduring performance. It consists of three (3) principles, namely replicating strategies that work (repeat successful approaches); integrating the unexpected (incorporate mistakes in ways that can lead to new forms and functions); and information reshuffling (exchange and alter information to create new options).

3. Adapt to changing conditions This is appropriately responding to dynamic contexts. It consists of five principles, namely maintaining integrity through self-renewal (persist by constantly adding energy and matter to heal and improve the system); embodying resilience through variation, redundancy, and decentralisation (maintain function following disturbance by incorporating a variety of duplicate forms, processes, or systems that are not located exclusively together); and incorporating diversity (include multiple forms, processes, or systems to meet a functional need).

4. Integrate development with growth This entails optimally investing and engaging in strategies that promote both development and growth. It also consists of three principles, namely combining modular and nested components (fit multiple units within each BHAKTI SHET | INDIRA COLLEGE OF ARCHITECTURE AND DESIGN | FOURTH YEAR B. Arch. | 2020-21

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other progressively from simple to complex); building from the bottom up (assemble components one unit at a time); and self-organising (create conditions to allow components to interact in concert to move toward an enriched system).

5. Been locally attuned and responsive This is fitting into and integrating with the surrounding environment. It consists of five principles, namely using readily available materials (build with abundant, accessible materials); harnessing freely available energy (use of solar/renewable energy); cultivating cooperative relationships (find value through win-win interactions); leveraging cyclic processes (take advantage of phenomena that repeat themselves); and using feedback loops (engage in cyclic information flows to modify a reaction appropriately).

6. Using life-friendly chemistry This entails the use of chemistry that supports life processes. It also consists of three principles, namely building selectively with a small subset of elements (assemble relatively few elements in elegant ways); breaking down products into benign constituents (use chemistry in which decomposition results in no harmful by-products); and doing chemistry in water (use water as solvent).

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CASE STUDY 1 COUNCIL HOUSE 2, MELBOURNE MIND MAP

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DESCRIPTION Council House 2, an administrative building for the City of Melbourne, is the first in the country to achieve the highest possible rating of six stars in Australia’s Green Star environmental accreditation. Every aspect of the building has been examined and rethought from first principles, evolving new precepts that are based in the desire to be as true as possible to the fundamental “laws of nature”. The design philosophy is concerned with developing appropriate architectural responses that are a direct and honest expression of the biodynamic relationships that nature uses in her own designs.

This has implications for the building’s architectural form and for all the very sophisticated engineering within it. The composition of this building – its skin, its bones, it’s very innards – has been subjected to rigorous reappraisal to attune it to natural processes. This acknowledges the reality that we, as a society, must develop more sustainable structures to live and work in, if we are to survive as a species.

DESIGN PROCESS CH2 is meant to be a 'lighthouse project' for new building developments, aiming to influence future design to be more sustainable and efficient.

Some objectives when designing the building were to be greenhouse neutral and improve the overall employee wellbeing. Different strategies were used when doing this, but all were focused on a sustainability aspect.

Biomimicry was a large component in designing the building. The building's principal design architect, Mick Pearce, incorporated a system previously and successfully used in the Eastgate Centre in Harare. The heating, ventilating, and cooling system (HVAC) is designed with strategies taken from a termite mound. In the termite mound, the cool wind is drawn into the base of the mound, via channels and the 'coolth' is stored using wet soil. As the air warms, it flows upwards and out of the mound via vents.

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This gives the mound the ability to keep a stable temperature. CH2 uses similar strategies with its system by effectively using natural convection, ventilation stacks, thermal mass, phase change material, and water for cooling. Another strategy used to take from nature is the skin system. The façade is composed of an epidermis (outer skin) and dermis (inner skin).

The 'dermis' of the building consists of the outside zone to house the stairs, lifts, ducts, balconies, sunscreens, and foliage with the inner line defining the extent of the 'fire compartment'. The dermis was designed with lightweight constructing using a steel frame. The epidermis provides the micro-environment including the primary sun and glare control for the building while creating a semi enclosed micro-environment.

DESIGN OUTCOME CH2’s public face is the tall facade overlooking Swanston Street, one of Melbourne’s public boulevards. It is entirely composed of timber vertical slats covering a fully glazed wall. These slats pivot vertically, opening and closing in response to the time of day and the angle of the sun.

The facade is thus animated in direct response to the external conditions. This is biomimicry at its very best – the building moving and becoming alive in response to the conditions surrounding it. The building’s crown houses another element that aptly announces the design philosophy. Six huge, bright yellow wind turbines are a fitting visual tribute to the way air moves around CH2’s interior, proclaiming way this building harness another powerful natural resource, wind.

Like Eastgate, CH2 is cooled by a timely management of the difference in temperature between night air and day air. In this case, a whole side of the building is opened to direct air intake through automatic shutters made from recycled wood (left).

This “night purge” vents the warmer air directly from the office and shop spaces and cools down the overhead mass of concrete. The warm air rises to openings in the ceiling and then travels through hollow floors to a vertical shaft and eventually to roof vents. This passive BHAKTI SHET | INDIRA COLLEGE OF ARCHITECTURE AND DESIGN | FOURTH YEAR B. Arch. | 2020-21

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treatment alone is enough to keep the spaces comfortable for a part of the day. Cooled fresh air rises through floor registers throughout the day.

CH2 also uses another temperature gradient of a fluid, water, to condition the air in the building. First, water is “mined” from the sewage supply of the city, triple filtered and then put to work flushing toilets, watering plants, and conditioning the air. The AC water is run down the outside of the structure through five 15-meter “shower towers” (below) which create evaporatively cooled air for induction into the lower commercial spaces.

The remaining water is piped into basement storage where it is cooled through a phase change apparatus and distributed when needed. The phase change apparatus is made up of 10,000 stainless steel spheres containing salts with a high freezing point (15 degrees C) which are frozen at night and then used to chill the water for distribution during the day, much like ice cubes chill your drink as they melt. This newly cooled water is pumped from the basement to chilled beams at every level of the building. These beams are arrayed copper pipes that drop cool air down later in the day when the effects of the night purge have worn off.

This building also uses thermal mass to absorb heat, reduces heat gain by a strategic placement of glazing, and produces power and heat by photovoltaic and thermal solar panels and a gas-fired cogeneration plant. It also hosts an equivalent amount of plant leaf surface to the site (to replace what theoretically was lost by development of the land), which oxygenates the air indoors and out. The building receives a fresh air change every half hour, and the owner claims a 10.9 percent improvement in worker productivity as the biggest payback from the $11 million (Australian) ventilation system. This increased productivity is calculated to be worth over $2 million (AUD) a year in staff time and means that the investment will likely pay for itself in 5 -6 years.

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SHOWER TOWERS

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BUILDING VIEW - FRONT FAACADE

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WIND TURBINES

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CASE STUDY 2 NATIONAL AQUATIC CENTER (WATER CUBE), BEIJING MIND MAP

INTERNAL VIEW SHOWING AQUATIC CENTER WITH TRANSLUCENT BUBBLED BIOMIMCRIC ROOF

DAY VIEW OF THE BUILDING

NIGHT VIEW OF BUILDING AFTER SWITCHING ON THE LED LIGHT IN THE CUSHIONS

TRANSLUCENT AND RECYCLABE ETFE PANELS

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A form inspired by the natural formation of soap bubbles. The National Aquatics Center, also known as the 'Water Cube', was one of the most dramatic and exciting sporting venues constructed for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. Enclosed within the bubble walls are five swimming pools (including a wave machine and rides), a restaurant and seating and facilities for 17,000 spectators.

Distinctive sustainable façade The building’s form is inspired by the natural formation of soap bubbles.

Arup’s designers and structural engineers realised that a structure based on this unique geometry would be highly repetitive and buildable, while appearing organic and random.

Ethyl tetrafluoroethylene (ETFE) was chosen for the façade. This material weighs just 1% of glass and is a better thermal insulator. Around 20% of solar energy is trapped and used for heating.

The daylight allowed into the cube saves up to 55% on the lighting energy required for the leisure pool hall. An ETFE façade was also used successfully on Munich's Allianz Arena.

Project Summary 30%energy consumption reduced in total.

55%lighting energy saved.

20%solar energy is trapped and used for heating.

The Water Cube’s breath-taking architecture is matched by engineering innovations in fabrication, materials, and environmental management. The highly sustainable structure is clad with ethyl tetrafluoroethylene (ETFE) that weighs just 1% of an equivalent sized glass panel. The bubble cladding lets in lighter and is a better thermal insulator than glass and thoroughly cleans itself with every rain shower.

ETFE for sustainability About 20% of the solar energy falling on the building is trapped within it and used to heat the swimming pools and the interior area.

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The translucent and recyclable ETFE panels ensure the centre is well lit during the day with appropriate levels of internal daylight, visual connection, and visual comfort. Up to 55% savings on lighting energy use are achieved in the leisure pool hall.

To reduce the energy consumption of the centre further, the design has incorporated many energy recovery systems, such as heat recovery from warm exhaust air for warming up the cold outside air (fresh air supply).

Since Beijing suffers from water shortage, water conservation was also central to Arup’s design philosophy. The firm proposed the reuse and recycling of 80% of water harvested from the roof catchment areas, pool backwash systems and overland flows. These aim to reduce the reliance and pressures on local receiving waters and the municipal water supply system by discharging directly to the sewer system.

Seismic design Although fragile in appearance, the structure is ideally suited to the seismic conditions in Beijing and is arguably the most seismically resistant building in the world.

The Water Cube's design was initiated by a team effort: the Chinese partners felt a square was more symbolic to Chinese culture and its relationship to the Bird's Nest stadium while the Sydney-based partners came up with the idea of covering the 'cube' with bubbles, which symbolizing water.

Contextually, the Cube symbolizes Earth, while the circle (represented by the elliptic stadium) represents heaven, a common motif in ancient Chinese art.

Comprising a steel space frame, it is the largest ETFE-clad structure in the world with over 100,000 m² of ETFE pillows that are only 0.2 mm (1/125 of an inch) in total thickness. The ETFE cladding, supplied and installed by the firm Vector Filtec, allows more light and heat penetration than traditional glass, resulting in a 30% decrease in energy costs. This choice was made in view of Beijing's goal of presenting a fully "green" Olympic Games, with zero net growth in total carbon emissions. Likewise, the venue was also designed to "capture and recycle 80% of the water falling on the roof or lost from the pools."

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The outer wall is based on the Weaire–Phelan structure, a structure devised from the natural pattern of bubbles in soap lather. In the true Weaire–Phelan structure the edge of each cell is curved in order to maintain 109.5 degree angles at each vertex (satisfying Plateau's rules), but of course as a structural support system each beam was required to be straight so as to better resist axial compression. The complex Weaire–Phelan pattern was developed by slicing through bubbles in soap foam, resulting in more irregular, organic patterns than foam bubble structures proposed earlier by the scientist Kelvin. Using the Weaire–Phelan geometry, the Water Cube's exterior cladding is made of 4,000 ETFE bubbles, some as large as 9.14 meters (30 ft) across, with seven different sizes for the roof and 15 for the walls.

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CASE STUDY 3 QATAR SPROUTS MIND MAP

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FRONT VIEW OF BUILDING

INTERIOR VIEW

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SITE PLAN

TOP VIEW

CACTUS BIOMIMCRY

Description The new office for the Qatar Minister of Municipal Affairs & Agriculture (MMAA) is one that speaks creatively and directly to the location and the office’s subject matter: it’s shaped like a giant cactus. Bangkok firm Aesthetics Architecture has designed a modern, glass succulent for the MMAA, using the cactus as design inspiration both in how the building looks and functions. Qatar is a scorching desert country that averages only 3.2 inches of rainfall per year; as such, buildings could potentially waste enormous amounts of energy in attempts to cool the people inside.

While any building in Qatar has its work cut out for it in terms of keeping cool, energy efficient elements in the design of the MMAA building, such as moveable sunshades that will adjust to respond to the sun’s strength, will aid the building in that task. The dome attached to the main cactus form will also bring an environmental offering, in the form of a botanical green house.

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Qatar has the highest GDP of all the world’s countries, making such innovative and extravagant design possible. Despite the modern design and material choices, however, there are still hints of the region’s rich architectural past, with the botanical garden’s metal entrance serving as a special example (note in the rendering its curved and pointed Moorish shape).

The Minister of Municipal Affairs & Agriculture (MMAA) in Qatar is getting a brand-new office building that takes the form of a towering cactus. Qatar is fairly barren, covered by sand, and receives and average annual rainfall of 8.13 centimetres. Since Qatar has the highest GDP in the world, they can afford to construct spectacular buildings that can be very efficient in the hot desert environment.

Design Process March 24, 2009 London may have The Gherkin but it’s not a patch on 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, a discipline that studies nature’s best ideas and then imitates these designs and processes to solve human problems. This increasingly prominent approach has yielded advances in fields as diverse as aerodynamics, robotic navigation, clothing design, UAVs and the detection of water pollution. It seems that architects too can learn from nature.

The design, by Bangkok-based firm Aesthetics Architects GO Group, takes its form from the hardy cactus plant with its 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.

The botanic dome at the base of the tower will house a botanical garden.

Hopefully it will include innovative solutions for waste-water management reenvision the process as an eco-conscious endeavour, conserving water and reducing overall treatment costs with minimal sludge disposal, water purchases, sewer surcharges, and chemical use.

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By re-organizing the natural resources, it is possible to transform water from dirty to clean. In one of the most basic solutions, waste-water pulses through a minimum of three different ecological systems that process and filter it in different ways. Each ecological system is isolated from the others so that it can treat waste-water based on its own unique needs, after which the water cycles on to the next community.

The technology would use helpful bacteria, fungi, plants, snails, clams and fish that thrive by breaking down and digesting pollutants. The selection and further cultivation of diverse communities is a solution in order for all compounds to be treated. The magic lies in understanding how the organisms interact and their combination. By combining them just right, that they can soak up the nutrients they love, enabling them to grow while they provide cleaned water. The botanical dome can also be used for climate control and air control, as well as for cultivation of a sustainable food source for the employed people.

Design Outcome Just like a real cactus thriving in the arid desert environment, the designers of the building hopes to make the infrastructure a comfortable haven in the middle of the desert with energy efficient features such as sunshade panels that open and close depending on the sun’s intensity. There is also a botanic dome at the base of the building that houses a botanic garden.

MMAA’s new building is designed in order to be very energy efficient and utilizes sun shades on its windows. Depending on the intensity of the sun during the day, the sun shades can open or close to keep out the heat when it is too much. This is similar to how a cactus chooses to perform transpiration at night rather during the day in order to retain water – another great example of biomimicry. The designers from Bangkok-based Aesthetics Architects GO Group decided to model the MMAA’s new office upon the cactus, taking inspiration from the way these plants deal with the scorching desert climate. The modern office and adjacent botanical dome are going to biomimicry the cacti and the way that they successfully survive in hot, dry environments.

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The new MMAA building was designed based on the shading properties of the cactus’ spines. It achieves this by incorporating sunshades on the exterior of the building. Much like in Kieran’s analysis on a building’s envelope and a filter, these shades act like filters with the sunlight that is penetrating the spaces. With the intensity of the sunlight that beats down onto the building and its occupants, a normal building would have to have a large cooling system in order to make that space comfortable for the user.

The sunshades on the MMAA building however have the ability to automatically fluctuate up and down, depending on the desired interior temperature, to regulate the amount of sunlight and heat that is transferred into the space. This innovative solution allows this building to lower the size and amount of artificial cooling necessary for the building to operate properly as well as providing a sustainable solution that is aesthetically pleasing. At the base of the building is a botanical garden which will hopefully be used as an edible garden and living machine.

Overall, the building is an example of a solution at the macro level, encompassing the building as a whole and how it functions within a specific environment. But Biomimicry also provides the opportunity to go even further and look at the micro level, such as looking at the design of the specific technologies that connect to the whole. An example of this type of discovery can be found in the research at Whale Power, a company dedicated to improving the

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DESIGN PROCESS INSPIRATION

LEAF OF ROSE PLANT

LEAF NETWORK

PRIMARY VEIN LAMINA

SECONDARY VEIN MARGIN

WATER CIRCULATION SYSTEM

PRIMARY VIEN: Serves as the main structural vein of the conservatory; forms the boundary between the biomes, acts as the main distribution element for the conservatory’s building systems

SECONDARYARYARY VIEN: Provides secondary structural stability; distributes buildings systems to the perimeter and center of the biomes

LAMINA: The primary skin of the structure; composed of ETFE. The ETFE allows the biomes to capture maximum amount of natural light

MARGIN: Serves as a link between, the primary and secondary structures

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Systems of Venation 1.Reticulated/Netted • •

Main vein branches Form’s network

2.Pinnately Netted • •

Main vein Veins and veinlets arise from the midrib and ramify throughout the lamina.

Function of leaves • Leaves provides trees with all their food as they turn sunlight food energy. Chlorophyll makes this energy DESIGNinto CONCEPT transformation possible. Leaves also make the oxygen in the • Green characteristics air thatbuilding we breathe.

• A green building is one that considers and then reduces its impact on • Plants not only raise joy, but it’s also a symbol of life. It the environment and human health. A green building uses considerably less energy leaves no waste behind. It uses natural phenomena to get its and water than a conventional less energy and water than a conventional building. need of power to keep itself alive and from creations of God Has fewer site impacts and generally higher indoor as quality. The come the best inspirations.

From which the levels idea ofofleaf structure offers a place for visitors to “reflect on major issues related to sustainable biomimicry aroused. development”.

DESIGN IMPLEMENTATION • •

Type of Architecture: Symbolic Biomimicry Leaf – Form follows function

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The building has a leaf shape roof of RCC or ferrocement shell with skylights and hurricane shutters with solar panels and also some green areas are provided in it, which follows the function of the leaf. It uses natural phenomena (sunlight, wind) and grey water to keep itself independent to power sources and keeping the environment clean as much as possible.

The main attraction is the combination of solar panels and roofing membrane that Hawkes has used. These reflect a plant's ingrained photosynthesis process of converting and storing solar energy. The photovoltaic solar panels will absorb the solar energy to use as electricity, while the roofing membrane will convert heat into thermal energy below.

As a result, the roof will act as a year-round source of electricity and heat, through storing the excess in an earth energy bank for the heavier energy demands of winter. Minimise Generation are providing the photovoltaic panels that form part of the design The design roof not only looks like a leaf, but also behaves like one: it absorbs the sun and the rain and transforms them into energy to keep the building running: photosynthesis.

It integrates a GSHP cooling system that takes in or rejects earth heat depending on existing temperature. It also uses a solar cooling system that heats up water and transforms it into thermal energy that cools the air down.

The leaf-shaped roof drives rain waters down to a deposit in the south-eastern side. From there, the water is filtered and distributed for different purposes: toilet flushing, cleaning, landscape irrigation.

The organic look of a green leaf minimises the visual impact in the context of a naturally green surrounding. Smaller wooden cells or cassettes are inserted into the spaces, mimicking the epidermal cellular structure of leaf. The roof is covered in glass and rainwater is channelled through the veins and diffused directly into the ground.

GREEN SOLAR PANELS PROVIDED ON ROOF

EXPECTED DESIGN OUTCOME

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DESIGN MODEL (HAND DONE)

GREEN COLORED SOLAR PANELS

CONCRETE ROOF

TOP VIEW

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SIDE VIEW

FRONT VIEW

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