be social to nature and benefit
biomimicry Martine Duyvis
The word ‘sustainable’ has become very popular in architecture. But how do we create sustainable architecture? Most architects apply solar cells onto buildings and add green roofs. This can be beneficial, but why not take it to the extreme? Most sustainable solutions to buildings protect nature a bit by mitigating negatif effects. But what if we can be really good for nature, that we can give something back? This brings us to biomimicry. Biomimicry stands for innovative design inspired by nature. Instead of creating a building and adding some sustainable features, it is about sustainability from the start.
a location is the starting point, mapping the area can reveal ecological systems, building and area functions, people’s desires, etc. When an area is mapped, it is quite easy to see what beneficial functions are desired in an area and how they can cooperate with other systems. When decided what is needed, we can look into nature to see if there are any organisms that can fullfill this need. An important thing about biomimicry is that it always tries to create a closed loop. That means that it does not
in Denmark. In 1961 an oil refinery in the city started using water from the nearby lake. The City of Kalundborg and the refinery were collaborating in this project. A couple of years later another factory started to use the gas produced by the oil refinery to dry their products. Afterwards more and more collaborative projects started. Kalundborg is now known for this symbiosis. The production and consumption in the city form a closed loop like an ecosystem. While conserving nature and finances it also improved the health of the citizens, by
> Kalundborg closed loop system
We have had some buildings inspired by nature before, but they were not always designed to be sustainable. When you look at an architect like Gaudi, we can see that he used natural shapes in his designs, but his buildings were not sustainable. Biomimicry is about the whole package, although the design doesn’t have to look like the inspiring organism. There are two approaches of designing in biomimicry. You can have a conceptual idea or a location and then start looking for natural solutions. Or you can look into nature and find something spectacular that you want to use in a design. But let us have a look at the first method, which is the most common. When
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create any waste. When we look into ecosystems, we see that they are all closed loops. Anything but a closed loop is not ultimately sustainable. We already work a lot with zero waste projects, but can we make these projects in every scale? Biomimicry is about thinking beyond limits and exploring everything that nature does.
integrating them into the loop. Citizens got employment and thus became wealthier. Last autumn The Biomimicry Institute, a nonprofit organisation that promotes the study and imitation of nature, launched a student competition. The design challenge was to create something that would reduce energy consumption. With the KTH Biomimicry team
‘When we look into ecosystems; we see that they’re all closed loops. Anything but a closed loop is not ultimately sustainable.’ A very good example of a closed loop project through mapping is the city of Kalundborg,
s t y l o s // s o c i a l e n g i n e e r i n g // s o c i a l e n g i n e e r i n g w e e k
we designed façade panels that gather snow for extra insulation in winter. Because our