BIOMIMETIC DESIGN FOR ADDRESSING LOCAL ISSUES

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BIOMIMETIC DESIGN FOR ADDRESSING LOCAL ISSUES

• Carlo Santulli
• Università di Roma La Sapienza
• Electrical Engineering Department,
• via Eudossiana 18 00184 Roma, Italy
• carlo.santulli_at_uniroma1.it
• Carla Langella
• Seconda Università di Napoli (SUN)
• Facoltà di Architettura Luigi Vanvitelli
• Via S. Lorenzo 81031Aversa (CE), Italy
• carla.langella_at_unina2.it

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Aim of this work

• Our objective is indicating the possibilities
  offered by a bio-inspired design approach in the
  solution of specific local issues
• The starting concept was that NATURE SOLVES
  LOCALISED PROBLEMS WITH LOCALISED SOLUTIONS
• The difficulty we found in transferring the
  bio-inspired logic has been asssisting students
  to observe the fuller depth of the principles
  leading the solutions applied in nature
• By the reference to local issues which involve
  them in a very close way, it has been much easier
  to allow a deeper analysis of the problems to be
  addressed and the consequent analogies with
  nature

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The local situation

• The experiments were developed from the
  theoretical research carried out in the sector of
  biomimetic design upon the territory in Southern
  Italy and in particular in the Campania region.
• Here, the application of environmental and social
  sustainability principles requires disposing
  urgent action schemes based on problem-solving
  strategies.
• Design may respond to this urgency by clear-cut
  proposals able to offer a new interpretation of
  quality and cultural identity in the local
  context, to be transferred in innovative and
  compatible products, services and behaviour
  models.

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Example of contrastsvariability between local
Councils

• Environmental awareness is very scattered
  through the territory, which suggests the need
  for local action

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Procedure for hybrid design
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Project experimentation
Fields of application energy saving, reducing
material in packaging, organic food promotion
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e-C SYSTEM
The e-C (e-Consciousness) system has been
conceived as an integrated system of products and
services, aimed at both facilitating the control
of domestic consumption and sensibilising home
dwellers towards the issues correlated to the
management of resources. This is realised
through a synergy between communication, ethical
message and use of new technologies
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Awareness board

• The awareness board is to be placed in home's
  most busy locations, associating aesthetic and
  communication function
• Four levels of consumption are visualised
  through a variable pattern, designed to
  sensibilise the home dwellers to the issue of
  resources consumption.

The lowest level, of consumption is represented
by the densest density of branches, (inward part
of canopy requiring less energy). The
concentration of branches tend to be
progressively at maximum energy consumption,
the board is almost empty
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MAP OF INTEGRATED SYSTEM OF PRODUCTS AND
SERVICES IN e-C
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PACKAGING SYSTEMS INSPIRED TO BIO-ENCAPSULATION

• The system is formed by a tablet of expanded
  biodegradable polymer on which, during packaging,
  a slight pressure is applied so that the polymer
  is able to wrap around the object, keeping it
  steady and protecting it.
• Package closure is limited to the application of
  an biodegradable polymer adhesive film,
  supporting also brand communication (logo, etc.)
• This results in a system simple and adaptable to
  different morphologies of objects and types of
  brand image.

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C- BOX
C-box project proposes an integrated system of
products and services destined to a network of
franchised organic food stores, distributing
organic takeaway meals in lunchboxes upon
request, mainly on the workplace. C-box
extends from brand image definition, to the
selection of the modes of distribution and
services to the customer, up to the project of a
lunchbox inspired to the tradition of Japanese
"bento (packed lunch)
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CONCLUSIONS

• The common ground on which are based the
  different experimentations is their predicted
  impact on everyday life, representing a concrete
  impulse and a drive for a sound and diffuse
  change.
• This reflects the contemporary need for extending
  the awareness of sustainability issues, to allow
  for the modification of lifestyle, to produce
  effects detectable both locally and globally.
• The role of design in this process is not only
  translating these concepts into practice, but
  also suggesting behaviour models and indicating
  directions for change.