A recent trend in architecture has been designing sustainable and ecologically responsible housing in response to threats of depleted resources, increased effects of global warming,  and overall increased awareness of human impact on the natural environment. The introduction of the Green Building Council in the nineties, LEED certification trends, and the Green Building Movement are all implementation examples of this fad within the discipline of architecture. However, with this burgeoning trend, designers and researchers are turning to biomimicry as the next big move for architecture. That is, imitating in buildings the natural processes and attributes found in nature: “...biomimicry, or bio inspiration as some call it, very simply means applying lessons learned from nature to solve human problems.” (Harman, p.2, 2013).  While the attempt to apply  biomimicry to multiple disciplines such as chemistry, medicine, engineering, and computational systems may be appropriate, this paper will argue that there exist limitations when applying biomimicry specifically to architecture. These limitations become clear through the stark contrast of nature and man as well as the unified ways in which nature works versus the individualistic methods humans tend to pursue.

When recalling biology lessons in school, one of the first basic topics taught is how ecosystems operate in an interconnected, systematical way. According to professor and plant ecologist Ernst Detlef Schulze, ecosystems are “networks of interrelations between organisms and their environment in a defined space” (Schulze, p.400, 2005). As such, organisms within an ecosystem are dependent on the processes and systems of other organisms within that same environment. A simple example is the oxygen-carbon dioxide cycle: animals take in oxygen and exchange it into carbon dioxide, while plants and trees take in carbon dioxide, exchanging it for oxygen. As long as both organisms continue to live within that given environment, there will be a balance of gases. An architectural parallel could be net-zero buildings, which strive to cancel out energy consumption by producing energy themselves. Similarly, the food chain is dependent on organisms feeding on other organisms within that environment  that fall  lower on the food chain. When the food chain is in check, populations are maintained and the ecosystem functions as it should. The moment the population of a predator or prey fluctuates, the entire food chain is affected, sometimes threatening the existence of the entire ecosystem. This is something which recently has been discussed with regards to overfishing and other human influences. And despite the fact that a hippopotamus can excrete a combination of chemical that act as a sunblock, insect repellent, and anti-fungal ointment (Harman, p.2, 2013), what good does this do if the plants and food which hippos rely on becomes scarce? These very basic examples appear so obvious that they can be classified as common knowledge, however, they are not thoroughly weighed by designers and architects claiming that biomimetic architecture is the solution to future problems. When working in conjunction with other organisms and natural systems, nature operates optimally.

Although biomimetic designs inspired by the ways in which nature works theoretically appear like safe and functional building solutions on an individual scale, the ways in which the designs function cohesively is often neglected. In her TED talk Biomimicry in Action, Janine Benyus explains biomimicry as the phenomenon in which people are beginning to remember that organisms are doing precisely what we need to do in order to be able to live gracefully and for an extended time. She provides various examples of organisms which have been studied as “blueprints or recipes” for imitation in man-made systems, such as bacteria repellant inspired by sharks now being used  in hospitals. However, majority of Benyus’s examples operate on an individual scale and very few of the executed examples are directly related to architecture (trees and bones as inspiration for bridges and the coral-inspired formula of adding carbon dioxide to cement being the the most relevant). This is not to say that these individual biomimetic examples could not all be applied to a building, but applying individual nature-inspired systems to a building without considering and researching the consequences of combining these systems could result in further functional and possibly fatal reactions.

The reason it is so essential to understand the way in which networked systems interact within an ecosystem is that when this network becomes unbalanced, the responses can be fatal. Just like a failing ecosystem can endanger the lives of organisms or an entire species, a failed biomimetic architectural system could endanger the humans for whom it was built. Additionally, errors would be more likely to occur in a man-made imitation of nature. One of the statements Beynus opens her talk with is “imagine designing spring.” She further explains that its something which occurs annually around the same time and involves the collaboration of many organisms and systems. With current technology, it would be extremely difficult for humans to coordinate a season with minimal error. Arranging the melting of snow, blooming of flowers and plants, end of hibernation, and increased rainfall are just some of the things that would have to be considered and executed at a specific time. It is no new discovery that humans have flaws and can not always build or design perfect objects, systems, and architecture. In recreating nature-inspired systems, humans are  simply mimicking nature-- not creating a flawless and cloned copy. Therefore, human error must be taken into account with biomimicry-- especially since like with the ecosystem, if one piece of the system is unbalanced the whole larger system can in turn, collapse. Since the biomimetic systems could be mimicked falsely from the start, or simply become unbalanced through a chain effect, the prospect of biomimetic architecture malfunctioning is rather scary. Unlike biomimetic chemistry which is tested and contained in the lab before being distributed (and even after being tested can still have serious repercussions), biomimetic architecture would serve spaces which are often inhabited by people, whether in the workplace or home. And although architecture can be tested to a certain degree, social and health effects are usually not noticed until years later when the architecture has actually been occupied and used by people.

Although biomimicry may hold answers to future architectural problems, as of now it appears that its application to architecture is still premature. However, it could prove useful in being applied to isolated functions and on a smaller design scale. For example, there exist successful biomimetic bathing suits which imitate a shark's scales allowing the swimmer wearing it to maneuver through the water faster, as the water glides the over imitation-scales. Swimming is an isolated act and doesn't affect much more than the swimmer and the water within the swimming pool, unlike a building, which affects all of those working or living within it for decades (via thermal systems, structural systems, air circulation, etc). Using architecture to imitate an attribute found in nature could be successfully applied on a smaller design scale such as clothing or tools but more research should be conducted prior to applying biomimicry to building systems. 

To create a truly functional architectural biomimetic model for a society, the design would not only have to mimic specific traits or systems found in nature, but the overarching systems as well. Biomimetic architecture should imitate ecosystems and then the minor systems working in unity within them. Beynus briefly touches on the association between cities and ecosystems, saying that she and HOK Architects believe that cities should function at least as well as the ecosystems they replace, without delving much further. However, this is a very important and sometimes skimmed over aspect of biomimicry. For effective biomimetic architecture, cities should function like every detailed part of an ecosystem, where individual buildings act as individual organisms which belong to a bigger, balanced system that relies on the organisms as much as the organisms rely on it. Although the recent research in biomimicry provides fascinating alternatives for the future of architecture, we must first study and understand how each system works within the larger scale and how they are all  interconnected before applying it to architecture.

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Janine, Beynus. "Biomimicry in Action." Lecture, TED Global from TED, Oxford, England, July, 2009.

"Encyclopedia of Life - Animals - Plants - Pictures & Information." Encyclopedia of Life - Animals - Plants - Pictures & Information. http://eol.org/ (accessed September 21, 2013).

Harman, Jay. The Shark's Paintbrush: Biomimicry and How Nature is Inspiring Innovation. Ashland, Oregon: White Cloud Press, 2013.

Meadows, Donella H., and Diana Wright. Thinking in Systems: a Primer. White River Junction, Vt.: Chelsea Green Pub., 2008.

Schulze, Ernst-Detlef, and Erwin Beck. Plant Ecology. Berlin: Springer, 2005.

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