Sustainable Art and Biomimicry

Biomimicry looks to nature, as well as natural systems, for inspirations in new design problems. Mother Nature, prospectively the greatest designer of all, gives insight to designers to solve modern day design problems. Engineers and designers then work along side each other to create a solution in our world through applying certain aspects of nature to designs.

For example, designers have studied the beautiful butterfly in specific examination of its wings. Butterflies possess some of the most striking colors found in nature. Butterflies receive their color from two different sources: pigmented color and structural color. The ordinary color comes from normal chemical pigments that absorb certain wavelengths of light and reflect others (Horton).The Qualcomm company has taken this principle from the butterfly and has developed "Mirasol Displays". The mirasol displays mimic the way light reflects from the scales on a butterflies' wing. The Qualcomm company makes use of the reflected light principle with an understanding of how human beings perceive that this type of light. Using an interferometric modulator [IMOD] element in a two-plate conductive system, the display uses near-zero power whenever the displayed image is static while at the same time offering a refresh rate fast enough for video (brainz.org). This concept is perfect for hand-held devices and is a great battery-saver !

Another great example of biomimicry comes all the way from Zimbabwe, where designers have built a high rise building, "The Eastgate Centre Building". This building was designed to mimc the towers built by termites in Africa. These termites build towers that maintain a constant temperature by constantly opening and closing vents throughout the mound to manage currents of air. The Eastgate Centre building uses similar design and air circulation and in doing so, they consume less than 10% of energy used in similar sized convention buildings !

For my third and final example of biomimicry, I have chosen to look at the invention of swiss engineer " George de Mestral. In 1941, Mestral invented the every popular velcro. Mestral used biomimicry to create the design of velcro through studies of his dog and the way that burs monstrously stuck to his dog's hair. Mestral noticed, through the use of a microscope, that the burrs' tiny hooks stuck to anything with a loop, such as his dog's hair. Mestral than created a 2-part velcro system that consisted of strips of hooked material and strips of loosely woven nylon that held the hooks.

-Katelyn White

http://animals.howstuffworks.com/insects/butterfly-colors.htm/printable : Jennifer Horton

http://brainz.org/15-coolest-cases-biomimicry/