There are three main ways biomimicry can work. First, a design can mimic form or shape, like paint that helps surfaces self-clean the same way as a lotus leaf. Second, there is mimicking process, like patterning autonomous vehicle networks on how ants and bees communicate as a hive.
"There are three types of biomimicry - one is copying form and shape, another is copying a process, like photosynthesis in a leaf, and the third is mimicking at an ecosystem's level, like building a nature-inspired city," says Ms Benyus.
The 3 Essential Elements of Biomimicry
When translating nature's strategies into design, the science of the practice involves three essential elements: Emulate, Ethos, and (Re)Connect. These three components are infused in every aspect of biomimicry and represent these core values at its essence.
Examples Of Biomimicry
The aerodynamics of the famous Japanese Bullet train was inspired by the shape of a bird's beak. The first flying machine heavier than the air from the Wright brothers, in 1903, was inspired by flying pigeons. Architecture is inspired by termite mounds to design passive cooling structures.
Biomimicry, as it's called, is a method for creating solutions to human challenges by emulating designs and ideas found in nature.
Natural design is design-without-a-designer, in the same sense that natural selection is selection-without-a-selector.
Biomimicry attempts to observe and study nature's time-tested problem-solving patterns and apply these strategic solutions to our own way of life. By emulating these solutions, we can adapt our designs to model those found within nature and potentially create sustainable solutions.
Biomimicry is the application of nature-inspired designs, be it nature's internal processes, its outward appearances, or using materials found in locally in nature.
Leverage Our Place: The fundamental goal of biomimicry is to “leverage our place” on the planet conceptually as well as tactically. Biologically inspired design learns from natural systems and from our place on the planet to inspire new sustainable solutions.
Biomimicry in architecture and manufacturing means designing buildings and products to mimic or co-opt naturally occurring processes. Evolution has shown how organisms have adapted to specific environments, exhibiting resource management that can be a lesson to designers.
Three Levels of Mimicry
Biomimicry can work on three levels: the organism, its behaviors, and the ecosystem.
Biomimetic refers to human-made processes, substances, devices, or systems that imitate nature. The art and science of designing and building biomimetic apparatus is also known as biomimicry because they mimic biological systems.
Biomimetics is the study of nature as inspiration for design. It will link students' knowledge of the natural world to D&T and teach them how to develop creative ideas into innovative designs.
'Bio' means living organism; 'mimicry' means to imitate. Biomimicry is thus the practice of imitating life and nature. Its aim is to draw inspiration from nature's engineering in order to solve the world's most pressing challenges and ensure a sustainable future for all life on earth.
Probably the most obvious example of nature-inspired technology is the airplane. It's hard to look at a majestic bird flying through the sky, and not envy its freedom. Humans have been doing it for centuries. So it is not surprising that it's been a goal of humans to learn how to fly for just as long.
Biomimetic design is the process of creating innovative ideas inspired by nature. This approach adapts processes of natural organisms to solve design problems and guides design in interior architecture, similar to many other disciplines.
In an effort to find the answer, biomimicry uses real living systems to inspire the design and fabrication of the next generation of materials that can solve problems as nature does, from healing wounds to preventing infections, to one day, perhaps, "growing" rockets and cars.
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Art can mimic nature, by seeking to visually replicate objects as they actually appear in real life. But abstract paintings can also take their visual cue from actual forms in nature, such as the painting below. This piece arose from the study, observation, and contemplation of natural phenomena and natural forms.