World Changing #5

Lauren Korany

Biomimicry is the act of transforming the successful principles of nature into successful functional design. It is referred to as Bionics in Europe (pg 99). Buckminster Fuller was the first to propose nature as an inspirational mentor to teach green design and Janine Benyus carried out the idea to the public in her book Biomimicry.

Nature has redesigned for thousands of years, even before humans have existed, and therefore has a wealth of knowledge on sustainability. The Earth has solutions that we can learn from. It is a “model, measure, and mentor”. If we look at specialized organisms, we can find specific traits that can be pulled into product design. Nature should be treated as a partner, rather than being exploited for its resources (pg 100). An example of this can be seen in NASA’s design for the spaceship antennae (pg 100-101). The idea of the final antennae as evolved, rather than designed in one process. NASA set up algorithms of code, re-coded and tested for different combinations, and tweaked each strand randomly to get the best antenna. This complicated process is much like a condensed natural selection process.

Other examples are “Gecko Tape” and “Lotusan” (pg 101). Gecko Tape was inspired by the adhesive microstructures in the feet of Geckos. They are able to walk on all surfaces and leave no residue behind. By studying their make-up, scientists were able to create a tape with the same features. For Lotusan, ISPO (a German design company) decided to study the make-up of a lotus flower petal to better design their products. The lotus flower lives in swamps but somehow remains clean. When studying the petals closely, they were able to see that they contain small ridges that make dirt slip off in the rain. ISPO designed their building exteriors, car exteriors, paints, and shingles with the same feature because the lotus flower inspired them.

Using these techniques are an instinct of human nature at a certain degree. However, it is a great idea to be mindful of what nature can teach through specialization. Evolution has “weeded-out” the specialized species that could not survive in modern environments. I want to incorporate the functional side of nature in my artwork in the future. If you think about it, all of the issues you may come up with have been solved by nature in some form.