Biomimicry Explored.

I am really interested in the idea of biomimicry and came across an interesting paper:

BIOMIMETIC APPROACHES TO ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN FOR INCREASED SUSTAINABILITY

By Maibritt Pedersen Zari

This paper explore the use of Biomimicry and the way ecosystems are emulated as a basis for design as a result of the potential it offers as a way to create a more sustainable and even regenerative built environment for both the present and the future.

From this table we can see the Biomimicry is split into three levels of application; the organism, behaviour and ecosystem.

Within each of these levels, a further five possible dimensions to the mimicry exist. The design may be biomimetic for example in terms of what it looks like (form), what it is made out of (material), how it is made (construction), how it works (process) or what it is able to do (function).

The organism level:  refers to a specific organism like a plant or animal and may involve mimicking part of or the whole organism. 

Example:

Waterloo International Terminal designed by Nicholas Grimshaw and Partners is able to respond to changes in air pressure as trains more through the terminal. It's glass panel fixings mimic the flexible, scaly Pangolin so they are able to move in response to imposed forces.

The behaviour level: refers to the mimicking behaviour, and may include translating an aspect of how an organism behaves, or relates to a larger context. In behaviour level biomimicry, it is not the organism itself that is mimicked, but its behaviour. 

Example:

An architectural example of biomimicry at the behaviour level is demonstrated by the CH2 Building in Melbourne, Australia. The design basis of this building is in part on techniques of passive ventilation and temperature regulation observed in termite mounds, in order to create a thermally stable interior environment. Water which is mined (and cleaned) from the sewers beneath the CH2 Building is used in a similar manner to how certain termite species will use the proximity of aquifer water as an evaporative cooling mechanism.

The ecosystem level: is the mimicking of whole ecosystems and the common principles that allow them to successfully function. 

Example:

An advantage of designing at this level of biomimicry is that it can be used in conjunction with other levels of biomimicry (organism and behaviour). It is also possible to incorporate existing established sustainable building methods that are not specifically biomimetic such as interfaced or bio-assisted systems, where human and non-human systems are merged to the mutual benefit of both.

An example is John and Nancy Todd’s Living or Eco Machines where the process of waste water treatment in ecosystems is mimicked and also integrated with plants. Eco-Machines offer unsurpassed environmental, technological, and economic advantages over conventional wastewater treatment options by mimicking the water purification processes found in wetlands and marshes.