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BIOMIMICRY:
The development of Biomimicry as an emerging design innovation in
construction
09/12/14
David Austin School of Technology
1102747 Architectural Design and Technology
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Table of Contents:
Introduction……………………………………………………………………………….……
What is Biomimicry? ……………………………………………………………………….…
How Can Biomimicry Influence Design? ………………………………..……………….…
Historical Developments in Biomimicry………………………………….………………….
Eastgate Building-Use of termite mounding as a ventilation model….………………….
Eden Project-Use of tubular steel and ETFE…………………………...………….………
Will Biomimicry sustain as a design method……………………………………………….
References..……………………………………………………………………………..…….
Table of Figures:
Figure 1:- 9 Basic Principles of Biomimicry …………………………………………...…..
Figure 2- Biomimicry Design Spiral …………………………………………..............……
Figure 3:- Diagram of Eastgate Ventilation ……………………………………........…….
Figure 4:-Sketches of Termite Mound and Applications………………………..…………
Figure 5:-Example of Warren Truss also known as a ‘Pratt Truss’ ……….………….…
Figure 6:-Example of a Vulture Metacarpal ……………………………………………..…
Figure 7-Sketch showing how refinement of structure can reduce material usage.....…
Table of Tables:
Table 1:-A summary of Crude Steel Production based on World Steel……………....…
Statistics
Table 2:- A summary of CO2 emissions created in manufacturing and…………..…….
Construction based on World Bank Data.
Appendices:
Appendix A:-Comprehensive figures of Crude Steel Production based on World …..…
Steel Statistics
Appendix B:-Comprehensive figures of CO2 emissions created in manufacturing….…
And construction based on World Bank Data
Appendix C:-A timeline of the developments throughout Biomimicry’s history …..…....
Appendix D:-Eastgate building’s ventilation strategy……………………………...….…..
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Introduction:
The UN stated as part of their ‘common future’ initiative that ‘Sustainable development is
development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future
generations to meet their own needs’ (1987, page 41). This theory presented to the world
over 20 years ago should have influenced nations to take necessary actions in order to meet
this simple expectation. Unfortunately, due to the result of increasing population growth
throughout the world, there has been a greater demand to meet production needs in relation
to various raw materials used in construction. This evidently creates a direct impact on both
resources and CO2 emissions from production.
As shown in Table 1; crude steel production has increased in the last 25 years overall
coinciding with the increase in resource demand. As shown in the table in areas such as
Asia, the demand has increased 4 fold to cope with both the industry within the region
expanding as well as other areas outsourcing to this region.
1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2014 (As of
Sept)
Asia 224,524 267,379 321,871 580,804 893,988 830,079
Europe 355,495 360,130 208,660 219,711 204,525 155,025
North America
110,995 122,726 135,186 127,631 111,565 91,249
CIS - 156,841 98,489 112,876 108,080 80,249
South America
29,285 34,634 39,110 45,316 43,873 33,799
Middle East
- 7,752 10,310 14,467 18,980 20,698
Africa 9,602 13,539 12,861 17,465 16,261 12,031
Oceania 6,676 9,302 7,832 8,646 8,149 4,016
Table 1; - A summary of Crude Steel Production based on World Steel Statistics (Appendix
A). All figures presented are in thousands tonnes
As mentioned previously, this increase in production to meet demand has a direct impact on
CO2 emissions. Table 2 presents these emissions categorised by the area in which
production occurs, as shown within the table the majority of regions have an increase in
emissions as a direct bi-product of the production methods.
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Due to the strident truth over time that action needed to be taken to acknowledge the
ultimatum presented in 1987. Many architects and designers started to innovate methods of
sustainable construction design to both tackle the emissions produced throughout a lifecycle
and the material usage for a project. However one movement truly encompassed a
methodology that far surpassed conventional thinking, Biomimicry.
What is Biomimicry?
Biomimicry is a term that was first used in 1957 by Otto Schmidt to describe the transference
of biological theories into technological solutions (Knight, 2009). This theory emulates the
thinking that both appreciation of nature and observation of its methodology are required in
order to sustain life. Michael Pawlyn expresses great compassion for the subject explaining
at a TED conference in 2010 that designers should use nature as a ‘source book’ for
sustainable design and technology and as it has refined from a ‘3.8 billion year research and
development period’ it has been and will always remain an emerging technology as
evolutions carries forth.
Although the term ‘Biomimicry’ was first used in 1957, it was a process that was evident
even as far back dated as Leonardo de Vinci’s flying machine, /the use of bird inspired
structures for this machine followed the function of a birds wing as well as its form to create
the basis of the design (Vierra, 2014). This functional based design is the essential
fundamental behind the theory of Biomimicry, however throughout history it has been
misconstrued that various architects including Le Corbusier and Frank Lloyd Wright
produced projects that would be classed in this category such as the ‘Johnson Wax
Building’. Although these structures are organically based design they do not present
functionality built in to be deemed to mimic nature.
With events such as the UN summit on ‘Our Common Future’ and the Rio Conference taking
place in the 1980’s-1990’s the need for sustainable design began to increase and with this
2005-2009
2010-2014 Difference
Asia 3,120 3306 186
Europe 522 524 2
North America
801 791 -10
CIS 414 429 15
South America
258 268 10
Middle East
277 291 14
Africa 120 129 9
Oceania 53 56 3
Table 2; - A summary of CO2 emissions
created in manufacturing and construction
based on World Bank Data (Appendix B).
All figures presented are million metric
tonnes
It is stated that the construction
industry influences 47% of total CO2
emissions produced in the UK. Within
this percentage it is established that
only a mere 15% of this is due to the
manufacturing required for the
building, where as the majority of
emissions, 83%, are produced whilst
the building is used post construction
(Business Innovation & Skills, Aug
2010). Use of strategic design with
further consideration of a buildings life
cycle could see reduction of the 15%
emissions; however with the use of
principles such as passive ventilation
derived by termite mounds the 83% of
emissions could be cut in turn
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came the introduction of Janine Benyus. Benyus is considered to be one of the key personal
responsible for developing the field into a more recognised and distinguished area today,
Maderic has presented key dates within Benyus’s career as follows:
1997-Release of ‘Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature
1998-Formation of Biomimicry Guild
2006-Development of Biomimicry Institute
2008-Ask Nature is Developed
These key events through the history of Biomimicry have both encouraged people to
produce nature based solutions as well as document and share these for further
advancements.
How Can Biomimicry Influence Design?
As mentioned previously, the fundamental behind Biomimicry is to not purely use natures
form within design but more importantly use its functionality to inform the process. Nature
has existed within the planet 3.8 billion years with the premise that adaption to changing
circumstances is key to survival. These logical approaches to sustaining life lead to the
observations that produced the key principles (Figure1) to devise Janine Benyus’s ‘Design
Spiral’ (Figure 2).
The principles and methodology offered by Benyus in these models present the designer
with the observations of how nature has been able to sustain life for a substantial period of
time. It offers a starting point to the solution of how this can be mimicked into the design
process.
Although the concept of mimicking nature can seem a simple task when faced with the
principles of Benyus, it has received scepticism from various people including Kaplinsky’s
who challenged the effectiveness of this adaption stating ‘Unlike nature, the human
imagination can make leaps. It can set to work on a radically new set of design principles’
(Kaplinksys, 2006). However, as stated previously with production and CO2 levels on the
increase, humans have not been able to make the leaps to reduce these therefore it is
Figure 1:- 9 Basic Principles of
Biomimicry (Benyus, 1997)
Figure 2- Biomimicry Design
Spiral (Benyus, 1997)
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essential to create innovative methods that can reduce these even with production demand
increasing. The use of nature as this role model for these newfound design innovations is
essential as it has shown an exemplary example of how nature can withstand, adapt and
most importantly survive with minimum input from external resources.
Historical Developments in Biomimicry:
As stated previously, the concept of Biomimicry is dated back to 1488 with the design of
Leonardo De Vinci’s flying machine. However it has only started to be extensively explored
in design over the past 60 years as more attention has been given to sustainable design
following various international initiatives and conferences. Appendix C presents a timeline of
the major developments considered in Biomimicry (Maderic, n.d).
The use of Biomimicry has seen developments across various areas including medicine,
industrial design, architecture and strategies used in business models; although the most
predominant advances to tackle CO2 emissions have occurred in the biggest produce of
those emissions, construction.
Two major developments during the history of Biomimicry that have both revolutionised the
existing solutions present as well as been proven to either reduce emissions at a
manufacturing level or during the running life of a building are the use of passive ventilation
modelled on a termite mound and structural elements that have been designed to mimic the
evolving structure of bone mass in birds.
Eastgate Building-Use of termite mounding as a ventilation model:
In 1961 Martin Luscher undertaken a study that was later published in regards to the
ventilation within a termite mound (Maderic, n.d), within this report Luscher offers the theory
that air is flowed through channels at low level which works with the heat produced from the
biomass of the structure to rise through and regulate itself. This exchange is a constant cycle
and allows the structure to regulate oxygen, humidity and temperature without the presence
of neither external assistance nor fluctuations in levels (Billings, 2013).
Figure 4:-Sketches of Termite Mound and
Applications (Hanife Yildiz, et al, 2012)
Figure 3:- Diagram of Eastgate
Ventilation (Harare Sustainable, n.d)
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The Eastgate Building is an example of how this technique can be used in practical terms.
During 1996 Mick Pearce in collaboration with ARUP Engineers designed the building with
this mimicry as the basis for the design. As shown in Figure 3 (also Appendix D) the building
uses low level channels with simplistic fans to transport air through the central shaft of the
building. As this passes through the floors it is heated or cooled by the building mass,
depending on which is warmer (the air or the structure), and distributed across the floor. This
innovative solution devised from nature has allowed the building to have a constant flow of
air that is regulated much like the mounds, as well as more importantly it uses 10% less
energy than that consumed of an equivalent building and has saved $3.5million from
avoiding the implementation of ventilation and air conditioning systems (Doan, 2012).
Eden Project-Use of tubular steel and ETFE:
Another example of how nature can be a leader for design is the use of how bone matter is
composed as a structural element within particular examples in nature, including birds and
bamboo. It has been noted previously that many existing structures used today resemble
counterparts that exist in the natural world including the Warren Truss’s construction (Figure
5) mimicking that of the vulture’s metacarpal (Figure 6) (D’Arcy Thompson, 1945 Cited
Pawlyn, 2011).
However this composition alone has its limitations to usage throughout designs as it is
constrained to the form portrayed above. Therefore the observation of the characteristics
bamboo has, including its high strength to weight ratio, has allowed better opportunities to
exploit these characteristics to the construction industries advantageous. As Pawlyn explains
the success to bamboo is the use of hollow tubing that uses nodes throughout its structure to
improve its structural resistance to buckling (Pawlyn, 2011). This in-genius combination of
characteristics has enabled tubular steel to be developed which has created a structural
system of the same integrity as conventional steel, however reducing the mass of the
structure from 100% to 20% (Figure 7). In 1963 the first structure was completed by Fazlur
Rahman Khan using the system on the DeWitt-Chestnut Apartment Building (Ali, 2001).
Figure 5;-Example of Warren Truss also known as a ‘Pratt Truss’ (Rusinkiewicz, 2009)
Figure 6;-Example of a Vulture Metacarpal (Prochnow, n.d)
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Use of tubular steel has developed significantly over the years with it being used frequently
in construction projects; particularly in areas of large quantity, high span curtain walling. One
example that predominantly portrays its high strength to weight ratio is the Eden Project. The
Eden Project was design by Nicholas Grimshaw and began construction in 2000. However,
as a starting point for the design Michael Pawlyn was key consultant to re-evaluating the
concept of typical horticulture that may be seen at Kew Gardens to produce a more
innovative, environmentally friendly approach that worked with the environment (Exploration
Architecture, n.d).
Pawlyn, being very compassionate about the use of nature’s function within design,
presented a solution that in its entirety derived itself from nature for both solutions to issues
they faced as well as for best design. The solution used soap bubble forms to work with the
topography that was not yet established, pollen grains and carbon molecules to produce the
hexagons and pentagons panel systems that allowed as much light as possible to penetrate
the building. Also, the use of tubular steel with a revolutionary alternative to glass called
Ethylene tetrafluoroethylene (ETFE) was used, to create a highly strong but light structure.
ETFE is a polymer material that is layered 3 times, welded and inflated to create pillowed
panels that have 1% of the weight of glass with the capabilities of being 7x the conventional
size of panels (Pawlyn, 2010).
The direct effect of Pawlyn’s nature inspired process of design has seen the following
benefits from the design:
The use of ETFE as an alternative to glass has seen a 100 factor saving in embodied
energy.
The use of ETFE as a light weight alternative resulted in the superstructure being
able to be constructed from lightweight tubular steel opposed to conventional
methods saving both emissions and resources.
Figure 7;-Sketch showing how refinement of structure can reduce material usage
(Pawlyn, 2011)
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Due to the vast amount of unobstructed lighting and the building being constructed
into the land it is self-sustaining in relation to heat.
Due to the lightweight methods use it has created a structure that is lighter than the
air within it.
The creation of £0.5 billion that has been able to contribute back to the community.
Will Biomimicry sustain as a design method:
As presented throughout this report both increasing CO2 emissions and relentless use of the
world’s resources in an overzealous manner, have produced the ultimatum that if the human
race do not address and adjust this the worlds resources will diminish alongside the
environment that will wilt. By using the methodology and principles behind Biomimicry it has
been proven that both resources and embodied energy can be significantly be reduced.
Further to these successful case studies, there are proposed schemes such as the
Biomimetic Office by Exploration Architecture. Although this scheme is still in the feasibility
study phase, it uses past proven methods seen in Eden and Eastgate as well as additional
methods such as the refinement of steel further for minimal resources required; reflection of
light to minimise artificial, based on the eyes of a spook fish that are mirrored to absorb as
much light as possible, and the use of solar shading based on beetle wings. These methods
can only further benefit the scheme bringing both carbon and resource usage down
(Exploration Architecture, 2014).
Essentially, by using the various methods that are developed, that will continue as nature
does, it will dramatically improve the CO2 emissions that the construction industry currently
contribute to the world, and with solutions such as steel refinement and the use of ETFE
seeing up to 100 factor savings this is not a far stretch of the imagination in any respect. In
addition to the existing methods produced there is also the backlog of scientists exploring
the 3.8 billion years of development so far along with future developments to see evermore
innovative, resource saving and energy efficient solutions that will carry on to reduce the
footprint.
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Appendix A:
Comprehensive figures of Crude Steel Production
Based on World Steel Statistics
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Appendix B:
Comprehensive figures of CO2 emissions created in manufacturing
and construction based on World Bank
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Appendix C:
A timeline of the developments throughout Biomimicry’s
History
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Appendix D:
Eastgate building’s ventilation strategy
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References:
Ali, M.M. and Moon, K.S. (2007) Structural Developments in Tall Buildings: Current Trends and
Future Prospects. , 50(3), pp. 205 .
Ask Nature (2012) Sketches of Termite Mound and ApplicationAvailable at: <http://www.asknature.org/media/image/23563>.
Billings, L. (2013) Nautilis: The Termite and The Architect. (008), .
Boyd, S. (2013) 9 Basic Principlies of BiomimicryAvailable at: <http://stoweboyd.com/post/48533957128/janine-benyus-9-basic-principles-of-biomimicry>.
Business Innovation & Skills (2010) Estimating the amount of CO2 emissions that the construction
industry can influence: Supporting material for the Low Carbon Construction IGT Report , BSI.
Doan,A. (2012) Biomimetic Architecture: Green Building in Zimbabwe Modeled After Termite Mounds . Inhabitat. [Accessed Nov 19, 2014].Available at <http://inhabitat.com/building-
modelled-on-termites-eastgate-centre-in-zimbabwe/>.
Exploration Architecture [Accessed 19 Nov 2014]. Available at: <http://www.exploration-architecture.com/>.
Imperatives, S. (1987) Report of the World Commission on Environment and Development: Our
Common Future , Oxford University Press.
Kaplinsky, J. (2006) Biomimicry versus Humanism. Architectural Design [online], 76(1), pp. 66-71
Available at:<http://dx.doi.org.ezproxy.wlv.ac.uk/10.1002/ad.212>.
Knight, A. (2009) Hidden Histories: The Story of Sustainable Design, Pro Quest.
Little Green Seed (2011) A tool for innovation- the biomimicry design spiralAvailable at:
<http://littlegreenseed.wordpress.com/2011/12/02/a-tool-for-innovation-the-biomimicry-design-
spiral/>.
Mederic, A. Amanda Maderic: graphic + industrial designAvailable at: <http://amandamaderic.com/#biomimicry-timeline>.
Pawlyn, M. (2011) Biomimicry in Architecture . RIBA Publishing. p. 128.
Pawlyn,M. (2010) TED: Using Natures Genius in Architecture TED Salon London , 2010. pp.1.
Rusinkiewicz, S. (2009) The Pratt Truss BridgeAvailable at:
<https://www.cs.princeton.edu/courses/archive/fall09/cos323/assign/truss/truss.html>.
The World Bank The World Bank: CO2 emissions from manufacturing industries and construction (million metric tons)Available at:
<http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/EN.CO2.MANF.MT?display=default>.
Vierra, S. (2014) Biomimicry:Designing to Model Nature, Whole Building Design Guide.
World Steel Association World Steel Association-Crude Steel ProductionAvailable at:
<http://www.worldsteel.org/statistics/crude-steel-production.html>.
