BIOMIMICRY

A PRAGMATIC TOOL TO ACHIEVE SUSTAINABLE SYSTEMS IN SKYSCRAPERS

K14 - HIGH RISE ISSUE, ESSAY

ANKUR NAVIN MODI

STUDENT ID: 4119695

M-ARCH SUSTAINABLE TALL BUILDING

BIOMIMICRY
Abstract
With an unprecedented expansion of human parasitical
footprint on the ecosystem, nature has reached its saturation
level of absorption limits, which has now taken a shape of
retaliation in the form of climate change and unpredictable
weather conditions, causing a major threat to our own being.
Although the human race have gone beyond the acceptable
limits of the ecosystems, its never too late to correct this mess.
Time has arrived when we accept and learn the principles of
nature in depth and live in coherence with the prevailing
ecosystem.
Biomimicry – Lessons learnt from nature, as we shall further
define this term in detail in the following paper, holds the key to
the probable answers to our sustainability. This emerging field
offers a near limitless source of information from various
organisms that have inhabited and adapted the principles over
tens and thousands of years ago.
Today in this buzzing world, construction industry has played a
vital role in contributing towards the degradation of our present
habitable ecosystem. Through the principle of Bionics –
Bionical creativity in Enineering, I have tried to analyse various
ways in which, one can adapt a coherent approach with nature,
and try to achieve the answer to the much needful question of
sustainability. The paper critically studies few significant fields
like Structure, Materials and Systems in which the principles
can be adopted. Further it describes various experiments of
nature with our habitable typologies, with a case specific of
building systems in skyscrapers, and the lessons learned from
the natural environment to use man-made building systems
more effectively, exploring the possibility of sustainability in
holistic manner.
Key Words
Biomimicry, Bios, Mimesis, Bionics, Biomimetic Concepts,
Ecosystem, Ecomimesis, Ecoskyscrapers, Bio-Inspired
Design.
I. Introduction
We humans are at a turning point in our evolution. Though we
began as a small population in a very large world, we have
expanded in number and territory until we are now bursting at the
seams of resources. Having reached the limits of nature’s
tolerance, we are finally shopping for answers to the question:
“How can we live on this home planet without destroying it?”
(Biomimicry Guild, 2008.)
Figure 1: Concept diagram showing entire volume of water in relation to
volume of earth and entire volume of the atmosphere one can breathe to the
volume of earth.
All forms of life co-operate and interact with the environment they
exist in, and also with other life forms. In the 20th Century, these
primes gave birth to the concept of ecosystems, and it can be
defined when organisms interact with their surrounding
environment (University of Mishigan, 2008).
Sustainability is a concept, which in general terms means: “the
ability to maintain balance of a certain process or state in any
system. It has become a complex term that can be applied to
almost every system on Earth.” If we want to live sustainably, we
have to change the way we use the Earth`s resources that can be
replaced (New World Encyclopaedia, 2007; Malayeri, 2009)
The paper defines a critical role of Biomimicry or life imitation in
built industry, and to further analyze them to understand the
evolution of a new typology in the growing stage searching for the
right direction.
II. Biomimicry - As Defined
The word Biomimicry is derived from two Greek words: bios –
which means life, and mimesis – which means imitate
(Biomimicry Guild, 2008., Mead, P. 2007). The famous biologist
and theoretician, Janine M. Benyus defines ‘Biomimicry’ in her
revolutionary book as “new science that analyzes nature’s best
ideas”.
Figure 2: Sustainable Development; Environment, Economy & Society.
Living organisms had been experimenting with this concept for
the last 3.8 billion years, they are the best judge to what works,
what is appropriate and what lasts in this ecosystem.
“Biomimicry can be a springboard for creative solutions”
(Benyus 2007). It is a new way to open up the minds to
innovate building in terms of its design and the way it functions.
These would be supported with appropriate examples in the
later part of the paper.
Figure 3: Energy Efficient Fans inspired from Cala Liliies
BIOMIMICRY 01
III. Challenges In Skyscrapers:
Skyscrapers are inevitable in today’s context of financial
algorithms, but there is definitely a constant effort to re-define
this typology by adopting certain wise principles in the field of
sustainability.
As Dr. Ken Yeang explains in his paper on ecomimesis, “A
conventional skyscraper is not an ecological type. It uses more
than 3 times energy and material resource to build, operate and
eventually to demolish” (Yeang, K. 2008) The structure of the
typology itself is the culprit to the above mentioned results. Due
to its physical characteristics, it requires additional energy in
terms of bearing various kinds of loads, infrastructure
pressures, and mechanical systems for it to work. Although
skyscrapers resolves the problem of density, by compressing
single or various activities in one place, the impact on the
environment created easily breaches the barrier of
unacceptability in the natural world.
Figure 4: Systems in Skyscrapers
IV. Exploring the Potential
Biomimicry has been around as long as humans. It’s incredible to
look at nature and discover such complex and efficient designs. It
has already proven to be a powerful tool when it comes to thinking
about systems design, or even specific engineering feats.
Proponents of biomimicry contend that many of the solutions that
we will need during the sustainability revolution are to be found in
nature: super-efficient structures, high strength bio-degradable
composites, self-cleaning surfaces, zero waste systems, low
energy ways of creating fresh water and many others (Pawlyn, M.
2008). Biomimicry has been severely criticised as a static problem
solving process instead what separates it from a standard problem
solving, is its continuous spiral like nature, providing no definitive
solution, only products and systems which can adapt to a
changing environment (Royall, E. 2010)
Figure 5: An image from visualize.us showing changing pattern of wood houses
Figure 6: A Living Tree Concept from University of Stuttgart
Tools of Biomimicry:
Build Sustainably - Biomimicry follows Life’s Principles which
instruct us to: build from the bottom up, self-assemble, optimize
rather than maximize, use free energy, adapt and evolve, use
life-friendly materials and processes, engage in symbiotic
relationships, and enhance the bio-sphere.
Conserve Energy - Energy in the natural world is even more
expensive than in the human world. Plants have to trap and
convert it from sunlight. As a result of the scarcity of energy, life
tends to organize extremely energy efficient designs and
systems, optimizing energy use at every turn.
Cut Material Cost - Nature builds to shape, because shape is
cheap and material is expensive. By studying the shapes of
nature’s strategies and how they are built, biomimicry can help
you minimize the amount of materials spent while maximizing
the effectiveness of the patterns and forms to achieve their
desired functions.
Redefine & Eliminate Waste - By mimicking how nature
transitions materials and nutrients within a habitat, the built can
set up its various units and systems to optimally use resources
and eliminate unnecessary redundancies. (Biomimicry Guild,
2008.) .
BIOMIMICRY 02
V. Experiments with Nature Source of Inspiration Application in
Evolved Concept Final Outcome
In actual, humans had been into this practice right from the
from Nature Man-made world

Nature as an inspiration for ‘Structure’

beginning of his evolution, but during his process, the path of

Beijing Olympic
Series of triangulations

Birds Nest
his development got drifted towards less sustainable and more

Stadium
vulnerable aspects of life. devoid of external motifs used
to evolve stiffness and
Today there has been enormous amount of research and aesthetics in the structure
development happening in this field, which shows the growing Fig: 7 Fig: 8 Fig: 9
awareness, and need for such system. I have broadly Lattice work of tiny ridges of

Thigh Bone

Crystal Palace Eiffel Tower

categorized these experiments into three major subheads as

Human
bone can withstand a weight

Paris
per their case examples described viz. Structure, Materials and of one ton when kept in a
technologies, and Building Systems. Illustrated on this page are vertical position
few case example of Bionics in Structural systems and Material
Fig: 10 Fig: 11 Fig: 12
and Technology.
The radial ribs stiffened by

Water lilies
Amazonia
slender cross ribs provides

London
VI. Biomimicry in Building Systems strength good enough for a
person to stand on it.
Built form in present context are almost at par with a living Fig: 13 Fig: 14 Fig: 15
object. The vital part of its cycle in the ecosystems which is still
missing is the growing gap between its energy galloping
tendency to self generating and re-cycling technology to make

Olympic Solar Botanic

Forest Land

Renewable
it eco-neutral. This step towards pro-nature elements requires

System
The nanotechnology of leaves
close interaction with the case examples and adaptation of Nature as an inspiration for ‘Materials & Technology’
in nature can produce 2000 –
natural principles which had been tested in time.
12000 kwh per year.
Fig: 16 Fig: 17 Fig: 18
The systems in today’s buildings are like the blood vessels in a

Technologies
human body, without which their functioning the typology The typical pattern of the
Shark Skin

Sharklet
Stadium
shark dentinal does not allow
Dentinal

cannot be imagined. The essential systems comprises of

maintaining comfort ambient temperatures for inhabitants, bacteria to settle on its skin.

Tower Beijing
water and electric supplies to run the infrastructure, transit
facilities within the built and overall management to orchestra Fig: 19 Fig: 20 Fig: 21
all other support systems linked with the built. In the following

Corporation
page I have tried to explore few critical illustrations depicting The under water coral reefs

Calera
absorbs CO2 from the
Reefs
Coral

architectural projects which have adopted the principles of Bio-

Paris
mimicry in building systems and infer vital learning from them. atmosphere to produce strong

Palace Eiffel
reefs
Fig: 22 Fig: 23 Fig: 24

Whale Turbine
Technologies
The flippers of whale used as
Flippers

London
inspiration for producing
Whale

under water turbines to work

Crystal
effectively in low currents.
Fig: 25 Fig: 26 Fig: 27

BIOMIMICRY 03
Case 1 – The East Gate Centre, Harare, Zinbabwe
(Inspiration – White Termite Mound)
The Nation’s largest shopping complex designed by Architect
Mick Pearce along with Arup & Partners, is an inspirational
system adopted from the systems of Sahara desert Termites to
cool their habitats through passive cooling.
Top left: Figure 28: Termites inhabitant in Africa
Top right: Figure 29: Termites houses fill in with light concrete to examine
how it works (Malayeri, 2009).
This astonishing structure created by the white ants can grow
upto 4 mts in height. The nest comprises of roundish base, with
conical columns to support the outer rigid shell. This complex
construction has a completely automated ventilation system by
juxtaposing the ventilation shafts required to oxygenate the
large population, which live work and breathe in their hard
stone skyscraper (Malayeri, 2009; Mead, P. 2007).
Figure 30: The termite principle of ventilation system
Heat is generated by the fermentation process as well as by ants
themselves, which is then pushed through the horizontal ridge
ducts. The porous exterior and interior walls of the ridges enables
exchange of gases, which allows CO2 to seep out replacing itself
with oxygen. As the air is cooled during its flow through the ridges,
it drops down into the inner chamber, and replaces it with the
warm air. Thus a cycle of ventilation gets over (Malayeri, 2009).
Figure 31: The shopping centre exterior and interior view.
Mimicing the termite systems, the East Gate Centre warms or
cools outside temperature passing through its skin into the
commercial spaces, where it eventually ventilates out. Installation
of such system has direct impact on the financial algos of the
building. An analysis describes that the developers have saved
3.5 million dollars avoiding conventional air-conditioning systems
(Royall, E. 2010)
Figure 32: Passive systems incorporated on the principle of Termite mould.
Case 2 – Regen Enviro-grid Swarm Technology
(Inspiration – Swarm Bees)
Toronto based power switch company has developed a smart
controlling systems based on the principles of
telecommunication methods of bees swarm.
Figure 33a: The sensory principle of swarm adopted by Regen.
(Source: http://www.climatespark.ca/Page/ViewIdea?ideaid=29)
They have developed a wireless controller that connects to the
control box on a piece of building equipment and functions as a
smart power switch. They detect each other using a networking
standard called ZigBee and begin negotiating the best times to
turn equipment on or off. The devices learn the power cycles of
each appliance and reconfigure them to maximize collective
efficiency (Hamilton, T.). The technology comprises of linked
electronic devices that can talk / signal each other based on
their delivery outputs. The performance analysis reveal, that the
technology adopted reduces the energy consumption upto 30%
((Hamilton, T.; Royall, E.2010)
Figure 33b: Regen Energy demand responses
BIOMIMICRY 04
Case 3 – Portland Headquarters - Living Machine: Case 4 – Aquaporin – A Desalination Company
Waste Water Treatment (Inspiration – Blood Cells)
(Inspiration – Mangrove Swamp)
‘Nature filters water’. Any desalination system consumes 3kwh
The wetland plants have a amazing technology of purifying to produce a single cubic meter of water through a conventional
waste water systems. Weeds like mangroves, during the uptake process of reverse osmosis (Chua, G. 2010; Kok, l. 2010).
of their water through the roots accumulate large concentration Nature has an answer to this in the form of an example.
of toxic metals like lead, and immobilize them. When they die, The Blood cells passing through kidney filters itself
the toxins become embedded in the peaty sediments of through process of forward osmosis, and further
wetland floor, which then gets transformed into fuel through liberates energy. This is done by a protein called
years. ‘aquaporin’. They could be metaphorically referred as
pumping systems for cells. They selectively conduct
water molecules only, while preventing the passage of
ions and solutes (Wikipedia, 2010)
Figure 36: The Principle of ‘Living Machine’.

Figure 34: Mangrove Swamp Figure 39: Crystallogrphic Structure of Aquaporin

Aquaporin A/s is a Danish company based in Copenhagen,

Dr. John Todd a visionary biologist, have developed an who has adopted this revolutionary principle by means of
engineered ecosystem called The Living machine. This is a industrial bio techniques. The Aquaporin developed as a
man-made mangrove based purification system applicable to molecule works on the similar principles of the protein found in
Figure 37: Flow Diagram
buildings, which consists of plants and animals as a part of blood cells (Tajkhorshid, E. 2006)
swamp. The waste water collected from any built is made to
pass through a series of tanks that comprises of fish, bacteria
and algae. Using sunlight as a source of energy, these
organism convert waste into potable water at half the cost of
traditional purification system (Todd, J. 1994; Mead, P. 2007)

Figure 35: Portland Headquarters – Living Machines Figure 38: The Phytoremediation Process – for Industrial Cleaning. Figure 40: Biomimetics way of desalinating water – on the principle of
forward osmosis

BIOMIMICRY 05
Based on the above illustrated examples, imagine, if we
replace all the conventional systems in a skyscraper with
biomimetic concepts, the typology would derive a new
definition, and perhaps be far more sustainable, in terms of its
resource management, life span, and economics.
VII. The Future
The future seems to be quite utopian, but it is not very far from
realization. It seems to be inevitably the marriage between the
‘Man-made’ and ‘The Natural’. There is a continuous effort
towards bio-inspired products and its application in various
industries related directly or in-directly into the construction
field. The application of Bio-mimicry, right from the scale of
applied building materials to city planning has already been
drafted. Projects are being testified in nature with respect to
their functionality, and sustainability. The illustration below
shows a ‘life cycle’ diagram developed by the Biomimicry
institute which aims at providing evaluation for commercial
projects.
Figure 40: Comparison of Ideas to ‘Life’s Principle’ by Biomimicry Institute
(Source: http://www.biomimicryinstitute.org/about-us/biomimicry-a-tool-for-
innovation.html)
Architect Paolo Soleri had once coined a word call, ‘Archology’
in his process of experimenting with an integrated city called,
‘Mesa City’. Based on his realization of housing a great
population under a single structure would bring complexity of a
city to close proximity (Malayeri, 2009). The concept was
derived from the biomimics of a human anatomy, where the
functions were placed next to each other based on their
dependencies.
The city would generate its own energy, and recycle its own
wastes. Although the critics called his models as file boxes, for
condensing and consolidating the whole community, his vision
seems to be turning rapidly into reality (Malayeri, 2009).
Figure 42: The Mesa City – Sketches of Paolo Soleri.
Today we are witnessing the projects like the X-Seed 4000, which
would house 500,000 to 1,000,000 population for Tokyo, Futuristic
Crystal island at Moscow and Bionic Tower at shanghai flowing
similar concepts of Mesa City, adopting the principles of
Biomomicry for sustainability.
Upper Left: Figure 43: X-Seed 4000, as visualized
Upper Right: Figure 44: The Crystal Island
The vision of tomorrow is already in the process of making. Today
we are doing buildings that can generate its own electricity, can
re-cycle its own waste, and can manage the energy load on its
own. The projects of tomorrow shall look like buildings that can
grow by itself, generate diversified energy, as per its own
requirement, built / grow itself as required, can breathe by itself
and sail itself to various destinations wherever required. The
future is here; the future is ‘Biomimicry’.
VIII. Conclusion
It seems that mankind has come back a full circle in search for
his quest to sustainability. Cracking the code of nature for the
search of the answer has become more than necessity for the
human habitat to survive with the ecosystem. There is definitely
a long way to go and further unlock the secrets of nature, where
one might be able to find the solution.
Fig: 45
Fig: 46 Fig: 47 Fig: 48 Fig: 49 Fig: 50 Fig: 51
Figure 45: Evolution process of a man
Figure 46: Tribal Habitat in a Jungle
Figure 47: Tholai, Harran, Turkey
Figure 48: Home Insurance Building, Chicago
Figure 49: Menara Mesiniaga Tower, Kuala Lumpur
Figure 50: Bird watching tower, Bavaria
Figure 51: Ecocity in Hong Kong
The evolution of human habitat as a metaphor of a full circle inspired
from human nature of growth.
As the famous biologist and theoretician Janine M. Benyus
describes it in her book – Biomimicry, Innovation inspired by
nature, “our relationship with nature should change. Instead of
seeing nature as a source of raw materials, one should see
nature as a source of ideas, as a mentor. This would change
everything, ushering in a new era based not on what we can
extract from nature, but on what we can learn from her”
(Benyus 2007).
What this paper supports is the series of illustrations to provoke
the ideas for the architects and engineers to adopt and apply in
their design the underline principle of Biomimicry built should
not only remain neutral to its ecosystem but also find ways of
contributing towards it in a way of repair. Although the scale of
adopting the ideas could start at a unit cell level, but it surely
makes a large difference in the natural world and systems.
BIOMIMICRY 06
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BIOMIMICRY 07
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http://www.ks.uiuc.edu/Research/aquaporins/ (Accessed on 30.12.10. Updated on 15.10.06)

Fig 40: Water Power R & D (2010), Wateruse Research Foundation Symposium , [online]. Available at:
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Fig 41: Biomimicry Guild (2009), Biomimicry: A Tool for Innovation, Biomimicry Institue. [online]. Available at:
http://www.biomimicryinstitute.org/about-us/biomimicry-a-tool-for-innovation.html. (Accessed on 30.12.10)eated on 17.11.10)

Fig 42: Mactonnies (2003), Cydonian Imperative, [online]. Available at: http://www.mactonnies.com/imperative43.html . (Accessed on 30.12.10. Created on 11.03.03)

Fig 43: Anissimov, M. (2006), X-Seed 4000, Accelerating Future, [online]. Available at: http://www.acceleratingfuture.com/michael/blog/2006/02/x-seed-4000/ (Accessed on 30.12.10. Created on 16.02.06)

Fig 44: Fosters + Partners (2007), The Crystal Island, [online]. Available at: http://www.fosterandpartners.com/News/324/Default.aspx (Accessed on 30.12.10. Created 20.12.07)

Fig 45: Moving Spirit (2010), From the inside out: Core Strength & Posture, [online]. Available at: http://movingspirit.blogspot.com/ (Accessed on 04.01.11.Created 03.08.10)

Fig 46: Malayeri, S. (2009), Jungle People, Biomimicry in Buildings, Copenhagen Technical Academy and Copenhagen Polytechnic, Ph.D. Thesis, [online]. Available at:
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Fig 47: New World Encyclopedia (2008), Beehive Tomb, [online]. Available at: http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Tholos (Accessed on 30.12.10. Updated on 02.04.08)

Fig 48: Building Big Skyscrapers Basics (2001), First Steel Skyscraper: Home Insurance Building, Chicago , [online]. Available at:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/buildingbig/skyscraper/homeins.html (Accessed on 02.01.11)

Fig 49: Architecture Moves us (2008), Menara Mesiniaga in detail , [online]. Available at: http://www.yangsquare.com/menara-mesiniaga-in-detail/ (Accessed on 30.12.10. Created on 19.06.08)

Fig 50: Archicentral: architecture / news / daily (2009), Botany Building: Grow your own building, [online]. Available at:
http://www.archicentral.com/botany-building-grow-your-own-architecture-23305/ (Accessed on 02.01.11. Created on 31.07.09)

Fig 51: World’s Most Futuristic Skyscrapers (2007), Eco-city in Hong Kong, [online]. Available at: http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=533306&page=5 (Accessed on 02.01.11. Created on 17.11.07)

BIOMIMICRY 09