Biomimicry * Julia Rozewicz * Gabi Tetelman * Elyse Schmitt

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Biomimicry

• Julia Rozewicz Gabi Tetelman Elyse Schmitt
  Katie Miller

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introduction

• Biomimicry is an innovation method that seeks
  sustainable solutions by emulating nature's
  time-tested patterns and strategies, e.g., a
  solar cell inspired by a leaf. The goal is to
  create products, processes, and policies---new
  ways of living---that are well-adapted to life on
  earth over the long haul. (Biomimicry Guide)

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• Biomimicry can operate on any scale, from
  super-adhesive tape that imitates a gecko's skin
  to a high-rise building that imitates a termite
  mound for passive air-conditioning
• Nature as Model

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• Whats the point?
• Sustainable
• Performs Well
• Save Energy

• Refine and Eliminate Waste
• Drive Revenue

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case study

• Kingfisher

• Transportation
• Shinkansen Bullet Train
• Problem produces thunderous clap sound when
  emerging from tunnels
• Modeled the front of the train like the beak of a
  Kingfisher
• Made a quieter train and reduced electricity
  usage by 15 while traveling 10 faster

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• Lotus Plants
• Toxics
• Microscopically rough surface additive introduced
  into paint, glass, and fabric finishes
• GreenShield
• Same water and stain repellency as conventional
  fabric finishes while using 8 times less harmful
  fluorinated chemicals

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• Other Examples
• Chimpanzees and how to heal ourselves
• Dolphins and how to warn people about tsunamis
• Human lungs sequester Carbon Dioxide
• Nature creates flow without friction
• Humpback Whales and efficient wind power

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architecture

• Architectural history
• Industrial age brought a shift from
  environmentally friendly architecture
• Adobe homes
• Igloos
• Traditional Japanese houses
• Wanted distance between us and natural elements
• Buildings all similar, regardless of location
• Used resources boundlessly
• Fossil fuel
• Water
• Waste

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• Sustainable Architecture Movement
• Biomimicry Guild defines it as
• A new discipline that studies nature's best
  ideas and then imitates these designs and
  processes to solve human problems.
• Living Building Challenge
• Founded during the creation of the Montana
  EpiCenter project
• Belief that our society needs to quickly find a
  state of balance between the natural and built
  environments.
• Surpasses LEED Certification
• LEED based on checklist, LBC based of performance
• LEED more pragmatic
• Some goals include
• Net-zero energy use
• Sustainable water discharge
• Habitat exchange

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• Examples of Biomimicry in Architecture
• Eastgate Building, Harare Zimbabwe
• Copies heating and cooling principles of termite
  mounds
• Opens and closes a series of heating and cooling
  vents
• Uses less then 10 of a conventional
• building of its size
• 3.5 million dollars saved on air
• conditioning
• Rent is 20 lower
• Lotusan Paint
• Butterfly wings and lotus pedals
• Repels water
• Remains dirt-free
• Georgia Tech Center for Biologically Inspired
  Design
• Solar Decathlon
• Competition b/w colleges and universities to
  design a homeostatic, solar powered house

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• We can imagine whole cities operating like
  complex ecosystems, processing water and waste
  while generating energy. Communities in desert
  regions will be designed to maximize the ability
  to collect water, and like the plants of the
  desert retain and conserve that water. In colder
  climates the focus will shift to retaining heat
  and capturing the available sunlight. From region
  to region the focus will change but environmental
  performance will be constant.

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in the military

• Spider Man Gloves
• Adhesion when two solid (rough) surfaces are
  brought into contact with each other and a
  physical/chemical/mechanical attraction occurs
• Inspired by spiders a geckos because of their
  ability to climb up and down vertical surfaces
• First noticed by Aristotle
• Made up of adhesive hairy structures
• Macroscopic
• lamellae and setae
• Able to attach and detach
• easily

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• Body Armor
• Polypterus Senegalus
• Primitive, eel-like fish
• 4 different layers on each
• scale
• Cracks on each scale run in a circle around
  penetration site rather than spreading throughout
  the entire scale
• Used for body armor and vehicle shells

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• Fly Spy
• If we want to develop something with stealth,
  we have to look at nature,'' says Teresa McMullen
  of the Office of Naval ResearchThere are no
  man-made objects that small that can fly.''
• Flies were chosen over any other flying insect
  because they can take off and land in any
  direction, even upside down. They can change
  course in just 30-thousandths of a second.
• insects use three different wing motions create
  backspin and air vortices that create lift
• Not yet in use, but are expected to be used for
  fires, natural disasters, terrorist attacks and
  even cheating spouses.

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• Robo Lobster
• Evolution has made the lobster
• antennule, or nose, very good at
• odor analysis
• Will someday be used on land and
• sea, using artificial snouts to root out
  mines in places and situations humans should
  avoid
• Many objects emit odors that are transported by
  chemical plumes downstream or downwind
• Mines leak TNT, which has an odor humans cannot
  smell but sensors can
• The lobster has two olfactory antennules
  (2-inch-long antennae covered with odor-sensitive
  hairs) that can sniff out food, friends or
  enemies. By analyzing high-speed videotapes taken
  of the tank action, researchers were able to
  establish how the size, motion and hair structure
  within the antennule enabled it to analyze the
  odor plume.

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Works Cited Berkebile, Bob and Jason McLennan.
Biomimicry in Architecture, Integrating
Technology with Nature. The Living Building 6
Dec. 2008 lthttp//elements.b nim.com/
gt. Biomimetic and Sustainable Architecture
Learning from the Eastgate Building in Harare,
Zimbabwe. Z Partners 6 Dec. 2008
lthttp//www.zpluspartners.comgt. Burnett, Linda.
Green At a School Near You. Contract Magazine
(Feb. 2007) LexisNexis. Pelletier Lib.,
Meadville, PA. 24 Nov. 2008 lthttp//www.lexisnexis
.comgt. How Would Nature Solve Green Building
Challenges? Ask Nature. 6 Dec. 2008
lthttp//www.asknature.o rg/gt.
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• Works Cited
• Living Buildings Challenge. 6 Dec. 2008
  lthttp//www.cascadiagbc.org/gt.
• Post, Nadine M. Designers Begin to Look to
  Nature to Render Buildings in Harmony With
  Nature. Engineering News Record 258.6 (12 Feb.
  2007) 28. LexisNexis. Pelletier Lib., Meadville,
  PA. 24 Nov. 2008 lthttp//www.lexisnexis.comgt.
• Pugno, Nicola M. Spiderman Gloves. Science
  Direct Nano Today vol. 3, issues 5-6. October
  December, 2008. lthttp//www.sciencedirect.comgt.
• Frost, Greg. Primitive 'dinosaur eel' could
  inspire future body armor. MIT News, July 27,
  2008.

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• Works Cited
• Knapp, Louise. Robo Lobster to Sniff Out Mines.
  January 2, 2002. lthttp//WWW.Wired.Com/Sciencegt.
• Squatriglia, Chuck. Spy Fly Tiny, winged robot
  to mimic nature's fighter jets. SF Gate,
  Tuesday, November 2, 1999