Whi te Pa per # 1 1 2 ( Dr af ts : 0 7 / 2 0 0 8, 1 0 / 2 0 0 8 )
Author: Nguyen
B r eakt h ro u gh St r at eg y C o mmit t ee
Biomimicry in Construction
1. Need and Potential
The construction industry consumes a tremendous amount of natural and man-made resources for the building of
new and retrofitting of existing infrastructure worldwide. This places a huge burden on our ecosystem to supply
materials as well as to deal with the negative consequences of overexploitation. With the planet facing severe
climate change, there is a more pressing need than ever to practice sustainability in construction. Among the various
ways to be more sustainable are the following two conceptual groups of solutions: to use less natural resources, and
for what we have to use, to minimize the pollution produced. This can be achieved by creating structures that are
slender, materials that last longer, processes and products that consume less energy in their life cycles and produce
cleaner by-products. There is a newly emerging scientific/engineering discipline called biomimicry that has
significant potential of providing innovative ideas to solve these construction-specific problems. By discovering and
mimicking marvelous biological models that exist in the nature, biomimicry creates solutions to human problems
that could not have been come up with otherwise.
2. Background and Gaps
Biomimicry (from bios, meaning life, and mimesis, meaning to imitate, also known as biomimetics, bionics, or
biognosis) “is a relatively new science that studies nature, its models, systems, processes and elements and then
imitates or takes creative inspiration from them to solve human problems sustainably 1”. In other words, biomimicry
simply means “taking good designs from nature2” Through hundreds of years of trial and error, nature has
“developed” (or more accurately, retained) some incredibly sophisticated biological structures as a result of natural
selection and evolutionary processes of a scale unimaginable to the human mind. For example, one of the most
fascinating applications of biomimicry is the invention of responsive or breathable clothing that mimics the
mechanism of pine cones to close when young and open when ripe to release seeds. The science behind this is that
each pine cone scale is consisted of layers of different materials that respond differently to the humidity, so when the
cone dries out, the layers do not expand to the same extent which cause the scales to open up. The same principle
applies in breathable clothing: a large number of little flaps (to mimic scales) are designed to open when humidity
increases as the result of sweating and close when all sweat has evaporated.
In the book by Janine Benyus, the author listed nine principles of nature that constitute the core of biomimicry:
1. Nature runs on sunlight.
2. Nature uses only the energy it needs.
3. Nature fits form to function.
4. Nature recycles everything.
5. Nature rewards cooperation.
6. Nature banks on diversity.
7. Nature demands local expertise.
8. Nature curbs excesses from within.
9. Nature taps the power of limits.
The process of natural selection, however, is different from the process of solving an engineering problem. The
nature did not set out a specific problem to solve and then find the solution to it. Instead, among millions of
“designs” that emerge, the bad ones are eliminated under challenging natural conditions. The good designs that have
withstood the test of time remain and guarantee to work. This is the reverse sequence of the problem solving process
normally conducted in the engineering world. As the result, most of the models from nature need significant
modifications to suit the context of the specific problems to be solved.
3. State of the art
The smart designs of nature usually start at the microscopic or even nanoscopic level of structure. The Center for
Biomimetic and Natural Technologies at the University of Bath (England) has developed a “biological patents”
database that documents a wide range of biological mechanisms that have been discovered. This will help the search
for the solution to a technological problem a little easier. However, there is a need 1) to decode nature to expand the
database (biologists), 2) to be creative with potential applications based on existing biological patents (biologists
with awareness of engineering problems, engineers with knowledge of biomimicry), and 3) to analyze engineering
problems and dissect them into specific basic science (physics, chemistry, etc.) problems that are more on the same
level of structural sophistication as the biological solutions (engineers with science knowledge).
Among several models that have been discovered, the following have potential applications that might result in
breakthrough improvement in the construction world.
 Sheeps-foot roller compactor is supposed to mimic the way sheep walk to result in even kneading of
clay surface.
 Spider silk: is supposed to be several times stronger than steel by weight. It has been suggested that a
pencil thick strand of spider silk can stop a flying Boeing 747. The molecular protein structure is
believed to create this superior strength. This can be mimicked to create high-strength substitute
materials in construction.
 Lotus effect: millions of air “bubbles” trapped under the microscopically rough surface of lotus leaves
form a maze and make water dropped on surface roll off and take away dust particles. Addictives that
create similar microscopically rough surface have been used in paint, glass and fabric finishes to
enhance self-cleaning ability.
 Termite-nest-inspired sustainable buildings: there is a species of termites living in Africa that can
maintain the temperature inside their next within one degree while the outside temperature swings by
40 degrees Celcius. An office complex in Zimbabue was designed to mimic the termite nest cooling
system and saved 90% of energy used for ventilation.
 Breathable plated FRP: apply the principle of the pine cone effect to design breathable FRP plates that
are more adaptive to the retrofitted structures.
 Automatic assembly for self-repair/self-healing concrete: all organisms assemble themselves, plants
and animals heal their own wounds. If concrete is enhanced with some bio-materials that have this
feature, cracks can be minimized or eliminated which helps reduce the erosion of reinforcing steel.
 Natural fibre composites to replace glass fibre in building materials. Advantages: comparable in terms
of stiffness and strength with glass fiber, can be used as fuel after serviceable life, resilient and more
damage tolerant.
Currently there are very few institutions that are doing research on biomimicry (mostly in the UK). There is a need
to raise the awareness of the construction research community about this potential multidisciplinary research field.
Biomimicry is exploratory research. It needs to be informed by specific problems in construction in order to guide
exploration and trigger creativity.
4. Recommended Path Forward
Applying biomimicry in construction requires a great deal of multidisciplinary research effort. Biomimicry decodes
nature to discover mechanisms of exact science at molecular and microscopic scale, while construction is anything
but molecular precision. A feasible path forward for this within the scope of BTSC and CII is:
 To conduct an in depth study of the biomimicry body of knowledge to identify potential areas where
construction applications can be benefited;
 To develop a comprehensive list of construction-related problems that need to be solved by science
(such as materials, structures, etc.)
 To inform biomimetic scientists of the construction-specific problems and inspire them to focus their
effort on finding solutions to these problems.
 To raise the awareness of the construction community of this new field, especially emphasize its role
in achieving sustainability.
The immediate path forward for BTSC is to develop a RFP for a short-term research project to do this literature
review and identify 3-5 specific applications that have the potential of being prototyped or commercialized. The next
part could be inviting an expert to come and educate us about the great potential of biomimicry in sustainable
engineering.
5. References
 1Wikipedia: Bionics. URL: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bionics
 2What is Biomimetics? An interview with Julian Vincent. URL: http://www.bath.ac.uk/mecheng/biomimetics/about/interview-nz.html
 Smart by nature. http://www.bath.ac.uk/mech-eng/biomimetics/about/smart.html
 Janine Benyus (2002). Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature. Harper Perennial Publishing.
 New material for the new age. http://www.bath.ac.uk/mech-eng/biomimetics/about/newmaterial.html
 Biomimetics: Design by Nature. Tome Mueller. National Geographic Magazine April 2008.
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2008/04/biomimetics/tom-mueller-text
 Biomimetics, technology that mimics nature. Rhett Butler. http://news.mongabay.com/2005/0711rhett_butler.html
 Biomimicry Institute Case Studies: http://www.biomimicryinstitute.org/case-studies/