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Stumped for fresh ideas about how to solve some a design problem?
Why not look to nature to provide the answer?
Increasingly, designers, architects and engineers are investigating how plants and animals respond to environmental challenges in order to solve human predicaments, says Lynelle Cameron, directory of sustainability for computer-aided design software company Autodesk Inc.
“In the past few years biomimicry has gained a lot of traction in the various industries,” she explained.
Biomimicry (from the word bios, meaning life and mimesis, meaning imitate) is a new discipline that studies nature’s ideas and then incorporates those in design and process to solve critical sustainable design problems, according to Janine Benyus, author of the book Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature. Benyus founded the Biomimicry Institute to grow a global community of people learning from and emulating nature. “This was we conserve life’s genius to create a healthier and more sustainable planet,” she said.
Just as insects and animals learned to imitate nature to develop camouflage properties that will ensure survival, people can learn to obtain cues from nature various products that can either improve our survival strategies or enhance life, Benyus explained.
For instance, Japan’s bullet train is renowned for being one of the world’s fastest trains. However, to many Japanese, the bullet train is also considered one of the most noisiest.
As the train speeds across the Japanese landscape it smashes through the air creating a assaulting blast which some say is akin to a sonic boom.
The train’s main body was streamlined to allow it to slice through air but the design failed to account for a considerable acoustic drawback which created an inconvenience for people living along the path of the Bullet’s tracks.
Designers tried various designs iterations but it was not until they looked up to the sky for some avian inspiration that they hit upon a solution, according to Jeff Kowalski.
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