As nature has always been a reliable source of inspiration for many areas including, but not limited to art and science, it seems only natural that we progress to understand more of what the natural world has to offer. From the research and work completed by the likes of Janine Benyus and Michael Pawlyn, they have showed an insight in to what the natural world has accomplished. Biomimicry is clearly a resourceful way of implementing new design features into modern architecture.
From the research and analysis, it is obvious there are some huge beneficial outcomes that can be enjoyed by the people that would work and live in these buildings, along with the sustainable aspect to limit the use of the world’s natural resources. The issues of implementing biomimicry can come from every aspect from the learning of it to application of it.
At the start of their career, students are not given the opportunity to learn about biomimicry as the work load related to their course is incredibly high. Similarly, the developers who could place biomimicry into the sustainability aspect of their own development have no incentive to include it because the production of high costing bespoke fabrications of materials and not receiving the immediate financial benefits from it.
The research undertaken shows there is knowledge of biomimicry and the benefits it could offer but the effecting aspect is the risk to undertake such a project. Little is known about how, in ten to fifty years’ time, biomimicry might become obsolete to a new process that is more efficient and cost effective. However this same concept could be applied to solar panelling. People who invested in it five to ten years ago are only now seeing beneficial outcomes financially. The same risk needs to be applied to biomimicry.
As discussed, risks are taken every day, from simply making a phone call on a mobile phone, this risk taken by approximately six billion people. The human race does not know what could happen, from the health risks to the environmental ones. Nonetheless they are taken. So what is so different about risking the future of the planet humans live on, if so far the examples have shown a beneficial outcome?
It is the responsibility not only of those who are the next generation to inherit the earth but also of those humans who many look up to for inspiration and have an expendable income to pioneer new technologies and design thinking that could one day save the entire world. Henry Ford aptly sums up the importance of progressive thinking:
“If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.”- Henry Ford (Vlaskovits, 2011)
CONCLUSION
