Biomimicry

Biomimicry or biomimetics is the examination of nature, its models, systems, processes, and elements to emulate or take inspiration from in order to solve human problems.

a.Sponges Provide Inspiration for Eco-Design

The most notable of sponge-inspired buildings is architect Norman Foster’s creation in London, the Swiss Re Tower.  The Swiss Re not only uses a unique system of three-way lattice beams much like a sponge’s exoskeleton, but a network of shafts and holes through its many floors replicates the filtration and circulation system sponge’s depend on for survival.  This unique ventilation system has allowed the building to run on half the energy costs of a typical building its size.

b.Trabeculae: Not your regular office building



Trabeculae by architects  Dave Pigram, Iain Maxwell, Brad Rothenberg, and Ezio Blasetti is a new take at the general atrium solution to office buildings. the point of a central atrium (like in that of the Bradbury Building) is to allow light deep into a building, the Trebeculae team argues that if that’s the main point, why not have the atrium chase the sun? Explanation and more images…

The team used a Heliotropic branching system to define the shape of the void that eats into the floors of the building. Heliotropism is the phenomena of plants growing over time in the direction of the sun to maximize their energy output. Similar to how a plant will chase the sun, the team used algorithms to define the void that fed of solar information particular to the site. This means that this void is a direct diagram of the solar conditions present on that site, maximized to allow the most sunlight through computation. The below diagram illustrates the steps taken to arrive at the final void.


The team took a second pass at the void to create the structural mesh that would lay inside the void and took opportunities to create bridges and meeting rooms embedded off the inner lining of the structure. below is a close up of the more finer structure within.



If your are for some reason thirsty for a more theoretical explanation to how this project embodies everything biomimicry has to offer you can read the excerpt below:
“In the Trabeculae tower, the algorithm represents a potential for difference. A highly complex network of response and decision making mechanisms capable of engendering spatial and formal differentiation through multiple levels of internal and environmental feedback and negotiation. In this regard, the architectural project is no longer regarded as a passive entity, but rather a typologically-free machine of multiple possibilities more akin to the morphogenesis of an organism. Where within the system, the very construction of architecture; position, scale, displacement, density, thickness, and length are not only embedded, but more critically become discretely informed by local environmental sampling.”

Social Innovation

Social innovation refers to new strategies, concepts, ideas and organizations that meet social needs of all kinds - from working conditions and education to community development and health - and that extend and strengthen civil society.

a.Hang On! Futuristic Flood-Proof Shelters for Urban Survival

With the rash of devastating global floods in recent years, it is worth asking the difficult questions, like: what if a town or city finds itself partially underwater for the long haul? How do we begin to build in such an apocalyptic scenario?


Environmental design student Mike Reyes wrote into Dornob with his design idea – an ingenious system of prefabricated, flat-pack units that can be deployed after disasters … suspended from the sides of buildings, hanging from bridges and more.

Sao Paula – his target city – is not new to flooding. Sometimes people die, and in many cases residents are displaced. In an extreme enough situation, many may find themselves permanently homeless.



These are often people living in shanty towns who cannot afford to simply ‘move up the latter’, literally or metaphorically.

The series of structures proposed here addresses the situation by adding onto skyscrapers and residential towers that survive such an event simply by virtue of being tall enough.

Scrap materials can be quickly assembled and attached as relief shelters. Subjective elements of experience are not ignored either – wall panels are designed for posting anything from art to emergency messages, also reflecting the already-eclectic visual nature of this bustling cityscape.

The level of resolution is impressive – the entire installation process is considered, as well as the source of construction materials and structural issues that could arise from adding weight to existing buildings. Whether it would ever be implemented is hard to say, but there is nothing like a crises to send building codes out the window, so to speak, and make ad hoc solutions the only recourse.

Cradle to Cradle

a.《Cradle to Cradle》:
Remaking the Way We Make Things is a 2002 non-fiction book by German chemist Michael Braungart and U.S. architect William McDonough. It is a manifesto detailing how to achieve their Cradle to Cradle Design model. It calls for a radical change in industry: a switch from a cradle-to-grave pattern to a cradle-to-cradle pattern. It suggests that the "reduce reuse recycle" methods perpetuate this cradle-to-grave strategy, and that more changes need to be made.


Today, with our growing knowledge of the living earth, design can reflect a new spirit. In fact, the authors write, when designers employ the intelligence of natural systems—the effectiveness of nutrient cycling, the abundance of the sun's energy—they can create products, industrial systems, buildings, even regional plans that allow nature and commerce to fruitfully co-exist.

 McDonough + Partners thinking to a city often known first for its fashion: Milan, Italy. Their Isola Office building will be aiming for LEED Gold with a variety of sustainable building strategies including solar and geothermal energy, advanced insulation panels, solar shading, and a high-efficiency climate control system. The structure will be part of the Porta Nuova redevelopment, which will introduce 340,000 square meters of housing, community, commercial and government buildings within Milan’s center – it’s practically a city within a city!
As an office building situated in a residential zone, the 10-story 8,600 square meter Isola building had to accommodate a variety of site constraints, including being re-adaptable as housing units. Working within these tight parameters McDonough + Partners were still able to incorporate a variety of sustainable features.
The Isola office building takes advantage of renewable energy via photovoltaics in addition to ground-source thermal capture. It also features insulation panels composed of of glass, metal, and terracotta that not only provide for a high-performance building envelope, but also allow for operable windows in every office.
Mcdonough’s new office will be sharing the spotlight with buildings by 24 other architecture firms including Kohn Pedersen Fox Architects and Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects. Continuously leading the sustainable movement, McDonough + Partners contribution to the Isola section of Porta Nuova will break ground as a pilot project for LEED certification of large urban redevelopment projects.


b."Cradle to Cradle" Furniture


The brainchild of designer Min Kang, the YiAhn is a functional bassinet for children that serves different roles to meet the growing needs, from infancy to pre-puberty years, of your kid. Measuring 31″ H x 39″ W x 17″ D, the YiAhn works as basket-like bed for infants, becomes a toy bin or bookshelf for 1-4 year-old kids and finally turns into study furniture (chair and table) for the kids up to 8 years. Finished with sustainable material, including Plyboo bamboo plywood, stainless steel and chrome metal, the fire and moisture resistant furniture also boasts high-density foam (2″ thick), which keeps your kids safe and comfortable inside the unit.

 

 

Recycling/Upcycling

Recycling:

Recycling is processing used materials (waste) into new products to prevent waste of potentially useful materials, reduce the consumption of fresh raw materials, reduce energy usage, reduce air pollution (from incineration) and water pollution (from landfilling) by reducing the need for "conventional" waste disposal, and lower greenhouse gas emissions as compared to virgin production. Recycling is a key component of modern waste reduction and is the third component of the "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle" waste hierarchy.

Upcycling:

It is good to recycle our waste products but even recycling can damage the environment and use up precious resources such as water and power. For example many grain processors burn their husks to create energy to run their plants but those same husks could be upcycled as mulches or mixed with epoxy and fashioned into gardening containers. Both upcycling ideas will upgrade the value of the waste husks.

 The main difference between upcycling and recycling is making something of    equal or better value without downgrading the original material or creating    more pollution during the process

A.a.Push-Button House by Adam Kalkin

Shipping container prefab houses certainly aren't anything new but the latest incarnation from architect/artist Adam Kalkin is pretty darn slick, so we had to mention it. The Push Button House is exactly that: it starts as a shipping container until a button is pushed, and it turns into a house. Motorized walls unfold like a flower, revealing a fully functional house, complete with refined, understated furnishings. Kalkin is unveiling the house (in more ways than one) at Art Basel Miami Beach, a renowned art show that started yesterday and runs through the weekend. Fitting that the house's debut is at an art show; Kalkin fancies himself a fusion of artist and architect: "I'm not into the container per se. It's what I can do with it emotionally; transforming a commodity into poetry." No word yet on pricing or production schedules; his Quik House will go into production next month and will be priced between US $150,000 and $175,000. ::Adam Kalkin via ::Future Feeder and ::New York Times

b.It's Easy Being Green: Shipping Containers Provide Affordable Housing

Container City at the Trinity Buoy Wharf in London was built over 2001-2002, out of 80 percent recycled materials. It provides living and working space to residents and artists.
 

c.Packaged and Living ISO Container Structure

 

B.Shanghai Corporate Pavilion Is Made Out of Used CD Cases

Shanghai’s Corporate Pavilion takes the upcycling trend to extremes: The entire exterior of the 4,949 square meter structure is made out of polycarbonate tubes fashioned from used CD cases.

If and when the building is ever taken down, the tubes can be recycled into polycarbonate granules that in turn produce more polycarbonate plastic products. But the Pavilion, in construction for the Shanghai World Expo 2010, is sustainable for more reasons that just its CD case exterior.

The building also features a solar thermal energy system to provide energy. The massive solar heat-collecting tube produces hot water up to 203 °F that can be used to generate energy with what architecture firm Atelier Feichang Jianzhu calls “ultra-low temperature power generation technology.”

Shanghai’s newest pavilion will also store and filter rainwater to provide a mist that lowers the temperatures in the building. The mist may also be used to spray visitors upon entrance into the pavilion, Las Vegas-style.


Upcycling Project: Slot 4

Group2’s BRIEF was to explore a design solution for the domestic environment keeping ecological sensibilities at the forefront of its approach. The main purpose of this exercise was to explore spatial conditions in smallscale.

Group 2’s design proposal is titled SLOT4 SERIES. ANDREA, KATE, PIM, QUEENA AND XUE make up Group2.

The characteristics of SLOT4 are defined by Series 1-4,in the form of 4 Seat Backs, and are complemented by a more defined typology in Series 6,7,8 and 9 in the form of a Table, Lamp, Parasol and Flowerpot. The common thread which links the Series is the steel tube fixing which slots each object into a wooden base to form a large multifunctional seating area.

A set of CRITERIA was devised as a means of ensuring a logical and methodological design process, acting also as a system of evaluation aiding the developmental process.

FUNCTIONALITY is key to the longevity of a design’s life. In development, physical functionality, as well as psycholgical functionality, have been examined by continually questioning the purpose of the design.

Is this the simplest way of making it?

Is this a useful use of space?

What will user gain from this?

The success of any furniture design is tested by its relationship with the THE USER.An interactive quality is vital to a successful design. The intention is to create the interactive quality element to maximum effect from a simple but effective design solution.

Our CULTURAL IDENTITY is retained in the design solution by reinterpreting and reinventing Eastern and Western activities in a contemporary way.

ECOLOGICAL sensibilities were considered when sourcing materials. Whereever possible we have undertaken to use reappropriated furniture or recycled materials. We have tried to minimise the waste keep cost down, and to buy wood grown locally within the UK.

Sustainable Design

Sustainable Design (also called environmental design, environmentally sustainable design, environmentally conscious design, etc.) is the philosophy of designing physical objects, the built environment, and services to comply with the principles of economic, social, and ecological sustainability.

Applications of this philosophy range from the microcosm — small objects for everyday use, through to the macrocosm — buildings, cities, and the Earth's physical surface.

                                                                                       APPLIED TO ARCHITECTURE
Sustainable design seeks to reduce negative impacts on the environment, and the health and comfort of building occupants, thereby improving building performance. The basic objectives of sustainability are to reduce consumption of non-renewable resources, minimize waste, and create healthy, productive environments.

Sustainable Design Principles
Low-impact materials, Energy efficiency, Quality and durability, Design for reuse and recycling, Design Impact Measures for total carbon footprint and life-cycle assessment for any resource used are increasingly required and available, Sustainable Design Standards, Biomimicry, Service substitution, Renewability, Healthy Buildings, Robust eco-design

b.New Orleans sustainable design competition

Fig. 1 Looking northeast to mixed-use building along River Boulevard from levee
Litmus Architects was one of 11 runners-up featured in an exhibit at the Ogden Museum in New Orleans for the Global Green USA competition to design a sustainable community in New Orleans, aided by the financial assistance and star-power of none other than… Brad Pitt.

The Holy Cross neighborhood of the Lower Ninth Ward was the site of the competition, where multidisciplinary teams were asked to design six single-family houses, a mixed-use building which included apartments and community services, and the site itself. Though entrants were encouraged to think beyond the site, balancing sustainability with affordability was a key component of the competition.
Six finalist entries were announced today on NBC’s Today Show, which will be further refined over the next month.
The entry by Litmus Architects stressed the site’s adjacency to the Mississippi River by locating the mixed-use building at the southern edge, creating a River Boulevard and open-air amphitheater (Figs. 1,2) at the levee for concerts and parades.

Fig. 2 Partial south-north section through site. From left to right - levee/amphitheater; River Boulevard; mixed-use building (in color); the Commons with playgrounds, gardens and wetlands; houses.
The organizing strategy for the site (Fig. 3) was a north-south grid of walls that could rise at the north end to become pre-engineered foundations for houses (saving the owners time and money), define the playgrounds, wetlands and public gardens (Fig. 4) at the heart of the site, and extend south across the levee into the river to become breakwaters to control erosion of the banks.

Fig. 3 Aerial view of site from northwest.

Fig. 4 The Commons at the heart of the site - playgrounds, gardens, and wetlands.
The entry also concentrated on learning from the inside/outside spaces often seen in New Orleans and the low-tech ways of shading places, keeping out the sun in summer while admitting natural light and breezes. Some striking spatial compositions resulted, such the internal courtyard in the mixed-use building with the upper floor apartments linked by bridges

c.Multistory building in Singapore will restore bio diversity

With cities and urban locations turning into jungles of concrete, sustainability and adaptability are the catchwords of modern designers. Keeping ecological improvement in mind, a Malaysian architecture firm has come up with a marvelous design, which surely will be a landmark in the field of architecture. Hailed as the EDITT (Ecological Design In The Tropics) Tower, the pioneering structure is planned to restore the bio-diversity of the local ecosystem. Set to build in Singapore, the 26-story tower will accumulate rainwater and incorporate a gray-water system, which will fulfill over half of the water requirement for plant irrigation and lavatory flushing. Residents and visitors will be able to visit the gardens through ramps that connect the EDITT to adjacent shops and offices.

Design Status:

The EDITT Tower is currently lined up for construction in downtown Singapore.

Usability:

Covering half of the surface area in organic local vegetation, the EDITT Tower also features photovoltaic panels in about 855 square meters of area that will fulfill about 40% of the energy requirements of the structure. If required, there is also the scope for an energy plant that will convert human sewage into bio-gas. With a number of movable or altogether removable walls and floors, the innovative tower affords a lot of space and scope for future modifications.

Designer:

The EDITT Tower is designed by TR Hamzah & Yeang, a renowned Malaysian architecture firm, and sponsored by the National University of Singapore.

Related Linking
http://inspirationgreen.com/vertical-farms.html

a.Sustainable Style: Prefab Futuristic Green Home Design

Like any good sustainable design the zeroHouse has all kinds of green bells and whistles, but it does something that many eco-friendly designs fail to do when they get too carried away with sustainability: it also looks extremely cool. Green home design strategies are balanced with beautiful prefabricated materials, colors and finishes.

The zeroHouse collects solar power and can store energy for up to a week’s worth of use. It also gathers rainwater in an elevated 2700 gallon cistern so that gravity can do the work rather than tapping into the power supply. Waste is processed into dry compost below the house. Insulation and day-lighting are used to balance internal temperatures and maximize thermal performance.

The house has everything needed for a short-term getaway or long-term residence, including a living room, kitchen, bathroom, two bedrooms and an elevated, covered deck. Everything in the house is automatic, with master controls tied to a central laptop computer.

This seems to be more and more the trend within green design: building homes that take maximum advantage of versatile materials, prefabricated parts, energy indepedence and other sustainable design strategies while maximizing style, comfort and livability.