International Teacher Education Conference 2014 1

International Teacher Education Conference 2014
Background
Janine Benyus coined the term “biomimicry” in 1997 when she published her book Biomimcry: Innovation
Inspired by Nature. She created this term by combining bios, which refers to life or living things, and mimicry,
which means to copy or emulate. Biomimicry simply means copying life.
Benyus describes biomimicry as “the conscience emulation of nature’s genius.” “Conscience” implies intent
to integrate nature into your design process. “Emulation” suggests that biomimicry goes beyond mimicking
nature’s shapes and forms; it is about extracting the best ideas and the strategies from nature and incorporating
them in our designs. “Nature’s genius” reminds us that the forms, processes, and systems found in nature are
truly ingenious compared to our own technologies. As Thomas Edison once said, “Until man duplicates a blade
of grass, nature can laugh at his so-called scientific knowledge.”
For design practitioners, biomimicry is a sustainable design tool based on emulating strategies used by living
things to perform functions our technologies need to perform – everything from creating color to generating
energy. Biomimicry, like nature, is continually evolving and can help to improve designs. There are three levels
of mimicry; the organism, behavior and ecosystem. Indeed, a crucial part of biomimicry is mimicking
ecosystems as described by Benyus (1997) and Vincent (2007). Ecomimicry is a term that describes this
mimicking process within design (Lourenci et al., 2004, Russell, 2004).
There are two main approaches to using biomimicry as a design process. These are design looking to biology
or biology influencing design (Biomimcry Guild, 2007). Firstly, design looking to biology involves designers
observing the natural world for solutions to their specific problems. What would nature do? An example of this
approach is the Bionic Car. The prototype of this car was based on the aerodynamic boxfish. Due to biomimicry
the car is more fuel-efficient as it mimics the boxfish. McKosky (2002) indicates that it is fundamental to
consider the natural form, process and system that can be found naturally within nature and then mimic its
process (McKosky, 2012).
Secondly, biology influences design which is reliant on architects/designers possessing an inherent
understanding of biological/ecological research. For example, the self-cleaning ability of lotus flower was
applied and utilized to enable buildings to be self-cleaning. Mimicking existing ecosystems and species provides
a stimulating vision of our future world and the way in which humans’ lives can be intertwined with other
habitats.
Innovation Inspired by Nature
Nature is the foremost superior designer. Janine Benyus 2002, is one of the leading researchers in the field of
Biomimicry and she recognized that modern society is removed from nature compared to our descendants. In her
book Biomimicry:Innovation Inspired by Nature Benyus proposes principles in her work that govern natural
design and processes such as: Nature as Model; Nature as Measure and Nature as Mentor. Firstly, she suggests
that biomimicry can be used as a model/design solution to solve human problems and rejuvenate our weathering
world (Nature as model). Biomimicry is a new science that studies models within nature and then imitates or
takes inspiration from these designs to solve human problems. Biomimicry can be used as a tool to create more
sustainable design solutions. For example, consider the Eastgate Cente in Harare, Zimbabwe, which
demonstrates biomimicry principles and is ecologically sensitive. This concrete structure has no conventional
air-conditioning yet regulates itself by utilising design methods inspired by the self-cooling mounds of African
termites. Learning from the termite model has helped humans create sustainable buildings.
Secondly, Biomimicry uses a standard (Nature as Measure) to evaluate the effectiveness of our concepts and
designs. Nature can be viewed as a measure. Biomimicry uses an ecological standard to review the validity and
reliability of our innovations. After 3.8 billion years of evolution nature has learned these three fundamental
principles: what works; what is appropriate and what lasts. Nature has taught us that designs that work remain in
use: they last. Finally, Nature is seen as a teacher, a mentor that enables us to view and appreciate nature
(Benyus, 1997). This is an incredibly competent universe with an array of successful living examples freely
available for us to learn from.
Nature's creatures and the texture of their skin can teach us a lot about life's genius. For example, the texture
of sharkskin has provided design inspiration for medical technologists and even swimsuit designers. The texture
of their skin is ingenious as it consists of dermal denticles or "little skin teeth" which serve a number of
functions. Firstly, this texture is streamlined and the denticles result in water moving more effectively over the
shark. Fraunhofer Institute developed a paint based on the textured skin of sharks that could be applied to planes
and ships to make them more efficient. In addition, the designers of the Speedo Fatskin swimsuit took their
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