The natural world is a living system engineered by eons of evolutionary forces. In this way, nature teaches us what works and what does not. It shows us that successful systems work to sustain themselves. They embrace change, harness diversity, and adapt accordingly. Their success depends upon the interchangeability of their inputs and outputs, their cycles of death and growth, and their use and creation of resources. Nature as teacher, therefore, can teach us how to effectively interact with each other and with the world at large.
So, what can we learn? By emulating nature's design we discover sustainable solutions. Just as leaves first showed us how to harness solar energy, the more we look to the natural world for answers to our modern day questions, the better our designs will be. In this way, biomimicry (literally meaning to mimic the biological world) offers enormous potential to transform our landscapes, buildings, products, and systems. For every problem that we currently face, there will be precedents within nature that we can study.
How can we apply this idea of biomimicry into the design of our landscapes? What if the built environment worked to sustain itself? While pondering these questions, I came across a website created by Janine Benyus and team, who started the Biomimicry Guild. An open-source database of biological literature organized by design and engineering function, "Asknature.org" is well worth a visit. You can start asking questions by clicking the link below.
So, what can we learn? By emulating nature's design we discover sustainable solutions. Just as leaves first showed us how to harness solar energy, the more we look to the natural world for answers to our modern day questions, the better our designs will be. In this way, biomimicry (literally meaning to mimic the biological world) offers enormous potential to transform our landscapes, buildings, products, and systems. For every problem that we currently face, there will be precedents within nature that we can study.
How can we apply this idea of biomimicry into the design of our landscapes? What if the built environment worked to sustain itself? While pondering these questions, I came across a website created by Janine Benyus and team, who started the Biomimicry Guild. An open-source database of biological literature organized by design and engineering function, "Asknature.org" is well worth a visit. You can start asking questions by clicking the link below.
No comments:
Post a Comment