Industrialised, Integrated, Intelligent sustainable Construction - I3con

HANDBOOK 2 SUSTAINABLE CONSTRUCTION
spectrum of turbulent wind energy. New fabrication methods make it now possible to envision
incorporating these complex turbulence-capturing mechanisms in our own built structures.
Another interesting aspect is the entire concept of the “living mound”, which lifts the lid on
architecture’s holy grail, the “living building”, a dynamic habitation that adapts seamlessly to the
demands of the occupants, and that can engage in a kind of emergent self-design. Details of how
termites do this very thing with their “living mounds” are beginning to emerge. What we can
presently glimpse points to homeostasis as the fundamental feature of all living structures.
We believe these new discoveries, and others, point to a bright future for termite-inspired biomimetic
architecture and beyond.
Acknowledgements
This research was supported by grants from the National Science Foundation (USA) to JST and the
Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (UK) to RCS. We are also grateful to the
Eugene Marais at the National Museum of Namibia and to Jacob Theron, Wolf van Wiellig, and the
Ministry of Agriculture of the Republic of Namibia, all of whom provided logistical and technical
support for this work.
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