rethinking design - Spatial Design@Massey

ethinking designbiomimetic design: materials design exteriorGemma Loving-HutchinsWhatBiomimetic designBiomimicry takes inspiration from nature and applyʼs the knowledge to the fields of engineering, science andtechnology to produce and enhance new materials, processes and devices.The solutions that animals and nature have come up with have been tried and tested for millions of years (certainlylonger than humans have been designing), so why reinvent the wheel? Why not learn from nature to make our designsmore efficient, elegant, and sustainable?Remember Velcro? George de Mestral, a swiss engineer, created Velcro after going on a hike with his dog in the Alpsand coming home covered in burs. He fashioned Velcro after how the burs had hooks on them and could catch onanything with a loop. You may have also used an idea from nature to help you solve a design problem. Manydesigners and architects are now using these design principle in order to create elegant solutions to every daypressing problems - like how can we more easily filter salt from water, or how animals naturally medicate themselvesagainst disease. Biological materials are more advanced than man-made materials. They represent elegant and highlyrefined structure compositions, which can aim to mimic or enhance or design strategies. (inhabitat.com)“Instead of acting like we are separate from nature, we need to accept that we are part of it and we should be behavingaccordingly.” (Website).Material: Spider SilkSilks are fibrous protein polymers spun into fibres by arthropods such as silkworms, spiders, scorpions, mites andfleas. Used in nature for protective shelters, structural support, reproduction and capturing their food. Silk ofengineering interestingly spun by orb weaving spiders, as it is mechanically superior to any other known insectʼs silk,the fibres are -5umin diameter compared to human hair, which is -6um. Spider silk is currently being analysed to