Biomimicry
Biomimicry is using nature as a guide to sustainable design solutions. Throughout the 2009-2010 school year, students have learned how to apply aspects of the natural environment into the products being developed. Nature is the ultimate test of sustainable design, as species and their behaviors learn to adapt to the extremeties around them. While products cannot obtain this level of sustainability, it is important to take into consideration how those processes create conditions that are conducive to life as well as adapt and evolve. By studying biomimicry, we can design much more efficient and sustainable products through materials, manufacturing, durability, and functionality.
Life's Principles
We will use the concept of biomimicry to the class with the goal of inspiring creative ideas and enhancing the role of sustainability in the curriculum. Janine Benyus, author of Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature, defines biomimicry (from bios, meaning life, and mimesis, meaning to imitate) as a new discipline that studies nature’s best ideas and then imitates these designs and processes to solve human problems. In her book, Benyus points out to the innumerable and ingenious solutions the natural world has devised to tackle the complex problems of energy usage, resource management, food production, structural engineering, beauty, waste management, reproduction, etc.
The Biomimicry Institute has developed a list of design criteria based upon natural principles that can be used in the generation of ideas as well as the evaluation of product solutions. Life’s Principles include the following key questions:
- Does the design adapt and evolve?
- Does the design make use of free energy?
- Is the design resilient?
- Does the design create conditions conducive to life?
- Does the design use benign manufacturing?
- Does the design leverage interdependence?