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A biomimetical guide for rethinking the act of designing.
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CITIES ARELIKE FORESTS
WHERE
EVERY BUILDINGIS A TREE43 LESSONS
3
noémie benoitTU Delft
Smart & Bioclimatic DesignAutumn 2009
CITIES ARELIKE FORESTS
WHERE
EVERY BUILDINGIS A TREE43 LESSONS
few wordsto explain
the picture
4Detail of a building, Sao Paulo, Brazil. Photo by Yann-Arthus Bertrand. Gallery www.yannarthusbertrand2.org
5
CONTROL OFENVIRONNEMENTS
BUT NOTOF THE WEATHER
Tornado damage in Florida, 1998, United States. Photo by Yann-Arthus Bertrand. Gallery www.yannarthusbertrand2.org
few wordsto explain
the picture
6Interchange between the 5 and 110 freeways, Los Angeles, United States. Photo by Yann-Arthus Bertrand. Gallery www.yannarthusbertrand2.org
7
CONTROL OFTHE MOTOR CARS
BUT NOTOF THE WASTES
Slums on the garbages, Managua, Nicaragua. Photo by Dr Glen T. Martin. Website www.radford.edu/~gmartin/Nica%20-%20Managua%20photos.htm
few wordsto explain
the picture
8Flooding in the palm oil plantations, 2009, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Photo by Noémie Benoit.
9
CONTROL OFTHE MONOCULTURES
BUT NOT OFTHE EARTH
Dry river, 2009, Tamil Nadu, India. Photo by Noémie Benoit.
few wordsto explain
the picture
10Deforestated area on the coast, 2009. Malaysia. Photo by Hosun Lee.
11
CONTROL OF THE LANDBUT NOT
OF THE RESOURCES
The Universe Islands, Dubaï, United Arab Emirates. Image by Nakheel. Website http://blog.luxuryproperty.com/private-islands-luxury-artificial-islomaniac-paradise/
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CONTENTS
page chapter title
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69
81
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135
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.1
.2
.3
.4
.5
.6
.7
.
opening : building more but...
cities should be like forests
roots : imPLANTation
trunk : a densifying structure
branches : hierarchized networks
leaves : the smart enveloppe
break : new genres ?
xxx
bibliography
43 LESSONS
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Cities are like forests,where every building is a tree...
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opening : building more but...
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time 1 time 2
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chapter .4
It seems common and right, according to our generations, to design and to build more and more. Even the tendencies for restoration and conservation overshadow the only fact to build more. However, the only act to produce and invent a new object questions its validity on earth. Taking part of a com-plex system, which role will this new building play in its environ-ment ? Which goals does it fulfill towards its context ? What is the referent data that allows us to im-plement this new design ?
How will the new object work in a stable ecosystem ?Tomorrow, I wish that the ar-guments of designing would consider fundamentally where we implant our constructions : in a natural ecosystem which has already its own rules and balan-ces. It is now our challenge, at that time where the planet is being very poor and destroyed by the human presence. The milieu and their characteris-tics bring us keys to respect it and insert us, humans and buildings the most discreetly as possible.
(Sorry for the egos, Mr the archi-tects, but they have nowadays their place in the closet.)
A new building means to add an «organism» into an existent eco-system. While the new element comes and takes space, nu-trients, etc, it can also give back something to the environment to balance its presence. It can par-ticipate and exchange with the milieu. That is a strategy of equi-librium which mimics the one of the natural systems.
opening .0
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chapter .4
In the Nature, every organism is a habitat, sheltering species and being source of food. Comple-mentary and various strategies exist to use in an optimum way all the available resources and not to lose anything. The Nature hates to waste. So, the Nature is an eco-system of many smart special solutions.
For this reason, natural orga-nisms are source of inspiration for us designers, to think differently about the world that we build and to make our designs that
fit the planet and not the contra-ry.
In this book, the forest as mature ecosystem is our reference for the built environment. Its inhabitants, trees, plants and others are ob-served as organisms and special answers that participate in the overall system. This metaphor allows designers to rethink every component of architecture as de-tail and conscious part of the all. It is because every organism fits a specific context that they sustain the total environment.
Let’s imagine real, participative, and positive features...
opening .0
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cities should be like forests
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chapter .4cities should be like forests .1
The maturity of an ecosystem is attained when a durable, stable equilibrium exists between the species, the ground and the clima-tes of the milieu.
It is called the climax and it is the moment where the networks are the most complex and the biological cycles the longest.
LESSON 1
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chapter .4cities should be like forests .1
The diversity of types or typologies is the result of innumerable adaptations to the contexts. All ecological niches are exploited.
Everyone has defined roles and functions. This biodiversity exists because of the complementarity of species (as typologies) and the presence of specific ones.
LESSON 2
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time 1 time 2
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chapter .4cities should be like forests .1
When an area is suddenly empty, it is the competition for taking benefit of the available sun. There is an immediate development of certain types ; the pioneer species have a fast growth and a short breeding cycle. Their struc-ture is poor, «sprinter» and has a short life expectancy.
In the same time, another type develops itself : the species of the future. They need less energy than the pioneer species and they have a very slow growth. With their strong structure, they consti-tute the pillars of the mature ecosystem.
LESSON 3
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what we did what Nature does
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chapter .4cities should be like forests .1
The extinction of species does not mean the extinction in the ecosystem of the function achieved by these species. However, the endangered species and the extinctions weaken the environment even if it is at the moment imperceptible.
The thinking system works with a synchronic vision of time ; cycles in circles and not a straight line.
LESSON 4
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chapter .4cities should be like forests .1
The ecosystem contains some particular species, which are en-gineers. They host other species, control directly or indirectly the resources for others.
LESSON 5
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building 2000 building 2010
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chapter .4cities should be like forests .1
The natural organisms are the only living bodies able to gene-rate their own nutrients from the sun and the water.
LESSON 6
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chapter .4cities should be like forests .1
When one element dies, it is considered as food for others or as fertilizer for the environment.
The ground or other kind of milieu is nourished by the rubbles, pie-ces or detritus from certain species or died organisms. After being consumed a first time, they are reused by others or they are broken down and re-assembled to constitute new nutrients. Everything is re-used, nothing is lost.
LESSON 7
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chapter .4cities should be like forests .1
On the same root networks, many organisms develop them-selves, sharing facilities and infrastructures for economizing as much as possible energy.
Sharing and participative structures are popular and the best in Nature.
LESSON 8
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chapter .4cities should be like forests .1
The informational network facilitates the collective adapta-tion due to a stress. If something happens to an organism, the other one will react by becoming more competitive. In front of an aggression by an organism, species or climatic event, another one develops a strategy and communicates with its peers for them to develop similar strategies.
The stress provokes adaptation and mutations, the information are shared with some mediators assuring the exchange.
LESSON 9
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time 1
time 2
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chapter .4cities should be like forests .1
There is a natural competition between species. Certain are not enough efficient and strong to survive and to adapt themselves. So, they die and are replaced by others.
However, it exists some virus species, due to an exterior disruption in the environment. This last one is disturbed and the virus species colonize the milieu and take the space and the niche of other orga-nisms. Other agents species are called to clean, to kill the foreigners to maintain the fragile equilibrium of the ecosystem.
LESSON 10
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time 1 time 2
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chapter .4cities should be like forests .1
Not every organism is exposed to favorable conditions of de-velopment, as limited exposure to the sun or poor food proximity. It is the fight for survival and growth.
So, species develop themselves on other elements having more energy. They hang on and catch their nutrients to live. They are symbiotic species, one hosted and the other one host.
LESSON 11
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chapter .4cities should be like forests .1
Certain types exist for hybrid purposes in the ecosystem. Parti-cular as the agents or the cleaners, it exists also the infrastructure designers.
They have a fast growth and are more economical, energetically speaking. Their structure is light and too much for being self-sup-porting, so, they use the other species to support their development towards the light. The particularity of these organisms is their mo-bility : they grow either horizontally or vertically.
LESSON 12
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roots : imPLANTation
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chapter .4roots : imPLANTation .2
The roots are serving of anchor space for the organism. They give its solidity to the all. The root system has as much space as the branches network (envelope), it is the upside down.
LESSON 13
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chapter .4roots : imPLANTation .2
The roots are contained in different milieus as the ground, the water or another organism.
LESSON 14
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chapter .4roots : imPLANTation .2
The roots are protecting the milieu in which they are. They maintain them as cleaner or filter, they warn erosion or they structure it for example.
LESSON 15
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chapter .4roots : imPLANTation .2
The roots are some infrastructures or tools which takes nutrients from the milieu towards the inside organization. They draw provi-sions for the need of its own organism.
LESSON 16
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chapter .4roots : imPLANTation .2
The roots are the infrastructures to carry nutrients until other inter-mediaries to nourish the all structure and feed the organism.
Roots are ways to transport food, to exchange information, and to diffuse nutrients in all parts of the living entity. However, roots are also returning elements to the milieu and nurturing it in the same time.
LESSON 17
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chapter .4roots : imPLANTation .2
The roots work according to different cycles, their functions will be called up at different periods of time.
The nutrients drawn from the environment are neither mobilized nor restored at the same moment or season.
LESSON 18
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chapter .4roots : imPLANTation .2
The roots are agents of communication. They exchange pheromo-nes, food, and other information with other organisms around.
They bridge different milieus and allow permeability between them. They assure a cooperation between micro ecosystems and entities.
LESSON 19
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chapter .4roots : imPLANTation .2
Roots are space of respiration. This respiration is constant and de-pends on the age of the alive entity.
It is at its maximum at the beginning of the life and in period of growth to slow down significantly at the mature age of the orga-nism. Its efficiency increases.
LESSON 20
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chapter .4roots : imPLANTation .2
The roots are a participative structure. By their configuration, they invite other species to take place, to live and to be protected by their networks. They host life, food and information.
Their structure enriches the ecosystem and maintains biodiversity by these propositions.
LESSON 21
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trunk : a densifying structure
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time 1 time 2
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chapter .4trunk : a densifying structure .3
The trunk assures the stability of the organism. The trunk has the capacity to grow in 2 senses, horizontally as vertically. Its density increases with the time.
LESSON 22
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chapter .4trunk : a densifying structure .3
The trunk has innumerable variations of forms and splittings to assure the highest density. Its own materiality can also vary to have the largest surface in contact with the milieu.
LESSON 23
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chapter .4trunk : a densifying structure .3
The trunk is the organ where flows of nutrients or information are circulating in an ascension towards the other main pole of the orga-nism, the branches network and their spaces.
The trunk assures the transmission of energy.
LESSON 24
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chapter .4trunk : a densifying structure .3
The trunk serves also for other species which climb on it between 2 milieus, fix themselves to it, insert themselves inside etc.
The trunk is a cooperative organ in that sense.
LESSON 25
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chapter .4trunk : a densifying structure .3
The trunk is structured depending on its age. At its centre, it is very strong and old and at its periphery, its materiality is tender and easy to attack by other organisms. That allows to fix themselves temporarily in the outer circumference as transitory shelter or acti-vity.
LESSON 26
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branches : hierarchized networks
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chapter .4branches : hierarchized networks .4
The branches are organized in a ramification system. The struc-ture has a high hierarchy depending on the age. Consequently, the branches have different sizes creating various scales.
Certain are for all the life while others are more temporary and will fall down after their function achieved.
LESSON 27
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chapter .4
The branches are a 3-dimensional system including a network of communication and circulation. It contains nodes and spaces are divided.
branches : hierarchized networks .4
LESSON 28
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chapter .4
The branches develop themselves in the space to reach light and nutrients as much as possible.
They secure a return on the available space and the space occu-pied.
branches : hierarchized networks .4
LESSON 29
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chapter .4
The branches’ network has infinite variations of forms, which adapted to different climatic conditions or other stresses with the ages.
branches : hierarchized networks .4
LESSON 30
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chapter .4
The network of branches is a support for other species. They can build nests, others can grow and become food.
branches : hierarchized networks .4
LESSON 31
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chapter .4
The material of the branches is a material able to fix, stock and reject substances and food.
branches : hierarchized networks .4
LESSON 32
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leaves : the smart enveloppe
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time 1 time 2
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chapter .4leaves : the smart enveloppe .5
The leaves are characterized by being the smart components and sensors of an organism within a context. They are driven by their local expertise.
The materiality of these components is the result of their functions and their adaptation to the environment and its contraints.
LESSON 33
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chapter .4leaves : the smart enveloppe .5
Leaves are interactive components able to catch information and to translate them in a technical answer.
These detectors are able to react to different climatic conditions or other stress on time, second, minute, hour, day, season...
LESSON 34
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chapter .4leaves : the smart enveloppe .5
Leaves developed various and complementary strategies to fulfill different functions in the overall entity.
In the same organism, leaves are different for achieving different missions depending on their position for example.
LESSON 35
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chapter .4leaves : the smart enveloppe .5
Leaves catch nutrients as water, warmth and light, but also dusts or wastes of the milieu. They can either fix them or transform them. Moreover, they humidify the air by this action.
By offering diverse surfaces of contact, they vary their impact and role on the environment.
LESSON 36
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chapter .4leaves : the smart enveloppe .5
Leaves offer a protection by constituting a filter against the light, wind and water. Depending of what they need, they absorb them more or less.
LESSON 37
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chapter .4leaves : the smart enveloppe .5
Leaves possess different materiality, forms and colors. They come from their adaptation to the previous constraints of the environment on the system.
Their various qualities enable them to be economical in energy.
LESSON 38
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chapter .4leaves : the smart enveloppe .5
Leaves assure the transpiration of the organism with its ecosys-tem. This transpiration is called the photosynthesis. It is both a chemical and technical reaction appearing in these components.
During the day, they absorb dioxide of carbon from the air and throw back oxygen, while during the night, the process is inverted in a smaller proportion. Other reactions appear which enable for example the component to grow and to produce food for itself.
LESSON 39
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chapter .4leaves : the smart enveloppe .5
The leaves achieve other functions which seem to be often for-gotten. They define atmospheres, light variations, visual movements and sound. They can also be medicinal for other species.
LESSON 40
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time 1 time 2
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chapter .4leaves : the smart enveloppe .5
Leaves communicate between each other by pheromones. Phe-romones are chemical information disseminated in the air and trans-ported in the milieu.
The leaves receiving these information are excited and change their behavior or their biology.
LESSON 41
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chapter .4leaves : the smart enveloppe .5
The leaves reflect the health of the organism. Their renewal per season for certain species enables them to save energy and to achieve a period of regeneration.
LESSON 42
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chapter .4leaves : the smart enveloppe .5
When the leaves are falling down per period, they constitute new nutrients for other organisms and nourish the milieu.
At that time, the roots also take them as food for feeding the orga-nism again. Everything is a closed cycle, in the entity in itself and in the milieu within the milieu.
LESSON 43
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break : new genres ?
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chapter .4
As your imagination would be challenged and excited by these principles, Nature can still teach thousands of lessons if it is studied deeper, larger or differently. However, I would like to warn you about its use ; if you see only the lesson from a nar-row perspective, it will help you to avoid thinking too deep and it will give you insincere reasons to build.
So, be aware of your choices to experience the rules before really implementing them.
If all rules are taken into consi-deration, maybe then you will be really sustainable.
I would recommend you to be cri-tical about your own ideas adap-ted from Nature. Nature has been doing this reflection for millions of years, just be humble.Maybe you may not find right solutions, but if you are already trying, well done.
And now, what about the flowers, the fruits ? Shouldn’t they be other genres of design ?
supernatural ? explosion, at-tempts ? or new hybrid materia-lization ? temporary exchanges of joy ? What would it mean in archi-tectural materialization ?And the space the void in the tree ? The essence of architecture....
Just few ideas for you to think more and to never stop thinking more...
break : new genres .6
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chapter .4xxx .7
Thanks to... -Jean, alive person and alive tree of Two Banyans, Auroville, Tamil Nadu, India.for the awakening about forests and deep sustainability, you make me seeing and understan-ding that it was possible, a world could exist as we dream and feel it in our bellies...(This book is dedicated to you and my stay in Auroville, my re-search of life...and for all humans of the world)
-Claude Ponti, author of children books, Broutille, The tree without end...for having made me dreaming all my childhood about trees, about a world of adventures and surpri-ses, magical in the Nature...
-Yann-Arthus Bertrand, French photographer of aerial landsca-pe.because everytime I observe the-se forms, colors and materialities of lands, I am becoming the wri-ter of the thousands of stories they lived and I am imagining inhabiting them...
-many of my teachers,who told me, yes you can dream, you can reinvent everything.
-Didier and Caroline, my parents,who are with children all days long and who take part in my stories,
-Janine Benyus, with her book Biomimicry, Innovation inspired by Nature.Because her book explained me how to think better and more...
- finally my friends who were with me to be critical, to check my translation and to support me !
few wordsto explain
the picture
126Landscape, Canada. Photo by Yann-Arthus Bertrand. Gallery www.yannarthusbertrand2.org
127
& EQUILIBRIUM METICULOUSNESS
BETWEEN NATURE & TECHNOLOGY
Ulsan shipyard, South Korea. Photo by Yann-Arthus Bertrand. Gallery www.yannarthusbertrand2.org
few wordsto explain
the picture
128Autum forest in the region of Charlevoix, Quebec, Canada. Photo by Yann-Arthus Bertrand. Gallery www.yannarthusbertrand2.org
129
& PATTERNDIVERSITY
BETWEEN CULTURES & TERRITORY
Terraced fields in Jebel Akhdar, Oman. Photo by Yann-Arthus Bertrand. Gallery www.yannarthusbertrand2.org
few wordsto explain
the picture
130Tree of life, Tsavo National Park, Kenya. Photo by Yann-Arthus Bertrand. Gallery www.yannarthusbertrand2.org
131
& DISCRETIONADAPTATION
BETWEEN HUMAN & RELIEF
Movie Home. Photo by Yann-Arthus Bertrand. Gallery www.yannarthusbertrand2.org
few wordsto explain
the picture
132
Stettjokul glacier Myrdalsjokull region, Iceland. Photo by Yann-Arthus Bertrand. Gallery www.yannarthusbertrand2.org
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& IMAGINATION COMPLEXITY
BETWEEN BASICS & REALITY
Dogon village, near Bandiagara, Mali. Photo by Yann-Arthus Bertrand. Gallery www.yannarthusbertrand2.org
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bibliography
136
Jean. Inhabitant, planter, forester & architect etc, Two Banyans, Auroville, Tamil Nadu, India.Braungart, Michael. Author of Cradle to Cradle. 8th October 2009 with TU Delft, Vesteplein, Delft.
meetings
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chapter .4bibliography .
Benyus, Janine. Biomimicry, Innovation inspired by Nature. 1997. Harper Perennial.Kelly, Kevin. Out of Control, The New Biology of Machines, Social Systems, and the Economic World. 1994. Basic Books.Ehrenfeld, John. Sustainability by design. 2008. Yale University Press.Vale, Robert & Brenda. Time to eat the dog ? the real guide to sustainable living. 2009. Thames & Hudson.Steffen, Alex. World changing, A user’s guide for the the 21st century. 2006. United States. Alex Steffen.Braungart, Michael & McDonough, William. Cradle to cradle, Remaking the way we make things. 2002. North Point Press.Panchuk, Neal. Parametric architecture & biomimicry. Thesis. 2006. Waterloo University. Ontario.Yowell, Jay. Biomimicry & architecture. Convention 2007. University of Oklahoma. Report.Karban, Richard. Baldwin, Ian. Induced responses to herbivory. 1997. University of Chicago Press.Self-sufficient housing, IaaC Ist Advanced Architecture Contest. 2006. IaaC.
books
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Biomimicry. A tool for innovation. 2007-2009. www.biomimicryinstitute.orgBiomimicry and Ocean generated energy : Are Humans smarter than Sea Sponges ? Gav, Big. 2006.www.bio-mimicryinstitute.orgLeightweightening : Scots pine. Research from Biomimicry Institute. www.asknature.org/strategy/Photosynthesis : Cooke’s koki’o. Research from Biomimicry Institute. www.asknature.org/strategy/Biomimicry inspired cactus building. Koerner, Preston. 2009, March. www.jetsongreen.com/Biomimicry + the graphic design process. Bosworth, Alison. http://dailythesisjournal.blogspot.com/Learning from Nature to use less material and energy. McKeag, Tom. 2009. www.greenerdesign.comThe Living Building. Biomimicry in Technology, Integrating Technology with Nature. Berkebile, Bob. McLen-nan, Jason. http://jasonmclennan.com/articles/The_Living_Building.pdf
The Mannahatta project : a Natural History of New York City. Sanderson, Eric. The Widlife Conservatorion Society. 2008-2009. United States. http://themannahattaproject.org/Warners tree surgery. Help for all sick trees. http://warnerstreesurgery.comForum Vegetal biology on Communication of trees. http://forums.futura-sciences.com/biologie/Ecological Design and permaculture. Hemenway, Toby. http://patternliteracy.com/index.htmlwebsites
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Pioneer Species, Re-establishing Woodland. Plants for a Future. Eugenie. 2009. www.pfaf.orgDefinition of Ruderal Species. 2009. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/What architecture can learn from Nature ? Holverstott, Brett. 2008. www.greenerdesign.comSuper sustainable city of Gotenburg. http://supersustainablecity.blogspot.com/2009/02/vision.htmlGrowing Architecture. Marley, Elizabeth. Wartena, Ryan. Hart, John. www.growingarchitecture.orgHolding Pattern : What to do with stalled building projects ? Alter, Lloyd. 2009. Toronto.www.treehugger.comKokage House Built from Tree-Shaped Parts. Alter, Lloyd. 2009. Toronto. www.treehugger.comGrowing a hidden architecture. Kerrigan, Christian. 2006. www.interactivearchitecture.org/
Comment les arbres peuvent-il éviter le stress ? University of Pays Basque. www.notre-planete.info/Fonctionnement des arbres, résineux et feuillus. www.univers-nature.comLe fonctionnement de l’arbre. Syndicat communal de la vallée de l’Orge Aval. www.sivoa.frL’architecture de l’arbre. Atelier d’études approfondies pour spécialistes des arbres. [email protected] forêt verte ? un aperçu de la structure forestière. Hecquet, Vanessa. 2001. www.terresdeguyane.frLa forêt, les quatre éléments. Gestion durable. France. www.onf.frManifeste du Tiers-paysage. Clément, Gilles. 2004. Free license. http://arlibre.org websites
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chapter .4contact .
noémie [email protected]+31 6 81 5021 81
Master of Architecture2008-2011TU Delft
Manual of the designerSmart & Bioclimatic DesignAR0531Autumn 2009
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