A Nature Walk Among the Trees: Learning Multi-Functional Design from Nature

Educators are the ultimate multi-taskers! We are required to balance the needs and interests of students, parents, and administrators while teaching to many different sets of educational standards - and keeping it interesting for students (and us)! Because of this, we are always looking to get the most out of everything we do and every lesson plan must accomplish many goals at the same time. 

"It was fun measuring the tree and writing and coloring!"
- Camille, Kindergarten

Our “Nature Walk Among the Trees” lesson showcases our simple, yet powerful approach to fit in with various K-12 standards (STEM & NextGen Science) in a fun and thought provoking session that challenges students (and teachers) to think “outside the box” and learn about science in nature in a creative new way. Looking to biomimicry’s Life Principle to “use multi-functional design,” we showcase life’s multi-functional strategies as exemplified in a native tree. For example, leaves:

• provide shade, 
• transfer energy,
• absorb carbon dioxide,
• filter air,
• self-cool, 
• recycle nitrogen...

...all in one seemingly simple little package! What can we learn from life’s multi-functional strategies to design products and services that perform just as well?

Participants in our session will experience the class as their students would, learning about biomimicry’s life’s principles from a trained biomimic and learning from a curriculum designer how lessons from this course can fit within their current curriculum and fulfill requirements for a STEM and Next Generation Science Standards. Support materials will be provided that you can bring back and implement in your classroom. “A Nature Walk Among the Trees” is one of several courses we are creating to make it easy and fun to integrate biomimicry’s Life’s Principles into K-5 classes.

Register for the Biomimicry Educator's Summit in Austin, Texas, October 4th and learn more about our educational products on our website!

Biomimicry for the Designer: 101

Designers are continually looking for new and innovative ways to create beautiful, livable spaces that are environmentally responsible and, more recently, resilient to disturbances. Increasingly, designers on the leading edge are looking to nature for this inspiration, including HOK, Grimshaw and Exploration Architecture to name a few. Learn how biomimicry can contribute to the sustainability and resilience of the built environment in this short introductory video, and sign up for a Chicago Biomimicry Immersion through Prairie Lab to learn more!

Nine Reasons Why Applying Biomimicry to Built Environment Projects is a Win-Win-Win!

Photo: Zlicovek, Shutterstock

Amy was recently asked to contribute to the Biomimicry Institute's new blog, Asking Nature. Check out her thoughts on "Nine Reasons Why Applying Biomimicry to Built Environment Projects is a Win-Win-Win!"

"Designers in the building industry are continually looking for new and innovative ways to create beautiful, livable spaces that are environmentally responsible and resilient. Increasingly, those on the leading edge are looking to nature as a source of inspiration. Here are nine examples of how applying biomimicry in the context of the built environment can help designers, projects, and communities as they work to create naturally sustainable, inherently resilient spaces."

Curious to learn more? Check out the next Chicago Biomimicry Immersive Workshop THIS SATURDAY! Enter promo code 'BioChi10' for 10% off the cost of registration!

Chicago Biomimicry Immersion - 2015!

In addition to running the B-Collaborative, Amy is a Partner and adult educator at Prairie Lab, LLC, and they are running a Biomimicry Immersion: Chicago-Style starting this April. Check out the webpage - with Amy's new video - to learn more! prairielab.com/immersion

Stories from the Prairie: Applying the “Genius of our Place” to Unlock Nature’s Strategies for Resilient, Restorative Design

Nature is inherently resilient and restorative while our human systems are...not. But what could we learn about the nature of design by studying the science of nature? By exploring our native organisms and ecosystems with a biomimicry lens, we can unlock nature’s locally-attuned design strategies and begin to apply them to our context: creating buildings, businesses and communities that are inherently sustainable, naturally.

Lurie Gardens. Photo by @amycoffman

In the other articles in this series, I wrote about the importance of connecting with nature and ways to do so. In this last (for a time, at least) article in this series, I share some stories of what I've learned in my exploration of the tallgrass prairie as well as a vision for a more sustainable and resilient world: one where our choices are based on working with and leveraging local context and energy flows rather than fighting against them.

It’s time to start thinking differently.

Like Wes Jackson who was inspired by the prairie to rethink industrial agriculture to Allan Savory who emulates grazing for holistic land management and Gerould Wilhelm who emulates the prairie in landscape design, each of these innovators look to the prairie ecosystem as inspiration for alternatives to standard practice. Doing so, they were able to (re)think standard practices, creating more low-maintenance, cost-effective, and biodiverse alternatives. And you can do this too.

Top 10 things kids can do to connect with nature!

1. Get outside and explore. Enjoy the outdoors by going for walks, meeting animals at the zoo, and taking hikes through the woods.
2. Ask lots of questions. Be curious about the world around you – ask and answer lots of questions.
3. Show and tell. Pick up objects in nature – leaves, pine cones, feathers – and ask what they are and what they do.
4. Take only what you need. Buy less stuff, reuse what you can, and recycle when you are done with it.
5. Celebrate the seasons. Celebrate the change of the seasons by picking seasonal flowers for your parents.
6. Limit screen time. Connect with friends and family by going for walks, playing games, and playing outside –away from a screen.
7. Grow your favorite foods. Start a garden that grows some of your favorite foods and share them with your family.
8. Let bugs be. Bugs are our friends, so be careful with them when playing outside and catch and release them from your home.
9. Turn waste into food. Collect kitchen scraps and compost them outside – they make great food for your garden.
10. Make an animal friend. Find an animal to be friends with and share your experiences with them – we are all a part of nature!

Content developed by The B-Collaborative for Nature’s Next: Raising Kids Connected with Nature. All rights reserved. Contact biomimicry@b-collaborative.com or visit www.b-collaborative.com/education.html for more information. 

Waste is Normal?? Lessons from a Bird Feeder

My husband has become a birder. He hung up a bird feeder on our back porch and every few minutes or so I catch him looking outside to see who is munching away on his treats. He checked out a bird field guide from the library and keeps telling me the names of the various finches, sparrows, and our beloved cardinals that pay us a visit. His love for the birds is a treat for me to see because as a lifelong asthmatic with allergies to "everything alive", he doesn't get many opportunities to interact closely with nature. But his bird friends are perfect - he can enjoy them, learn about them, and they don't stay in his house and make him sneeze!

I can't remember the names of the bird species that pay us a visit (my memory is notoriously terrible), but remembering the names of the species isn't as appealing to me as trying to figure out how they work and what lessons we can learn from them. So what is my main takeaway from observing our bird friends so far? 

Waste is normal. 

This observation is a bit shocking to me. It flies in the face of all sustainability theory I've read and practiced for the last fifteen years, so so how can I observe that waste is normal? Because it is, when you look at component parts in isolation without seeing the larger system. Not every species can consume the entirety of the resources that are offered. Sometimes, there is waste, but this waste is readily taken up by another component, resulting in a zero-waste system.

Resilience in the Midwest: How does nature buffer high speed winds?

Those of us who live in the American Upper Midwest have it pretty good. 

Although we rarely take the time to acknowledge it, comparatively to other more vulnerable regions in the globe, we are living in an ideal location. We live in the breadbasket and grow more than enough food to feed ourselves. We’re well above sea level, so we will not be affected by anticipated sea level rise. And we have the world’s largest accessible freshwater body – the Great Lakes – in our back yard. But, we still have our own forms of adversity with which we need to contend - and the tornado that flattened homes outside of Peoria, Illinois, this weekend proves that even inland areas must adapt to the challenge of increasing storm intensity.

Chris Walker, Chicago Tribune, Nov. 18, 2013

According to the Chicago Climate Action Plan, it is likely our region will experience a variety of disturbances, including stronger, but infrequent, storms causing wind damage, widespread flooding and/or intermittent drought. In the wake of the recent tornado that wrecked communities across Illinois, let’s start with wind damage – how can we make our homes and infrastructure more resilient to damaging wind speeds? As an architect and biomimic, I believe the answer can be found by looking at how our neighbors, the native organisms that have occupied this land long before we have, solve the same challenge. We can start by asking nature!

How does nature...buffer high speed winds?

Every time there is a large storm event, we see absolute devastation of our human habitats. There are no metrics to measure the wildlife populations before and after strong storm events, such as tornadoes, but it's safe to say that native populations have adapted themselves to survive and thrive through a variety of disturbances. By looking to native organisms and patterns found in nature, we can begin to think of new and innovative ways of surviving high wind speeds in our built infrastructure. Some patterns we find in nature include:

Have you met FRED?

Have you met FRED? If you have an interest in biomimicry and landscape design - check it out next Saturday, September 21st, in Riverside, IL. 

"Join us on Saturday, September 21, 2013 for the FRED, an exciting day of classes, tours and workshops brimming with new ideas for your garden or community. The FRED (Frederick Law Olmsted in Riverside Education and Design) is a unique opportunity to enjoy landscape and garden design in the historic landmark community of Riverside, Illinois."

Biomimicry: (Re)Learning from Nature’s Genius
Amy Coffman Phillips, workshop facilitator

"How can nature inspire us in the design process? Biomimicry is the practice of drawing inspiration from nature to solve the sustainable design challenges we face. By studying nature, we can discover practical and inspired solutions to challenges from product design to community planning. Join Amy as she illustrates how biomimics around the world are learning from nature’s solutions and then explore how to apply them to our communities in an interactive BioBrainstorm session."

The Prairie Project

by Amy Coffman Phillips

I recently wrote an article on my work with the Prairie Project, a Biomimicry Chicago AskPlace initiative, for the Metropolis blog. I have republished it here, and visit the Metropolis site for the full article.

Have you ever sat in your home or office and wondered what your part of the world looked like before your community was there? What ecosystems and organisms sat where you do now and how did they adapt and thrive through the same challenges that we face today?

Our built environment faces many challenges in adapting to a changing climate, from storm water management and drought tolerance to energy use optimization and eliminating waste. By recognizing that our communities and cities have been built on, and in most cases destroyed, land that was previously occupied we can we learn from our native ecosystems to design more resilient, well-adapted communities.

Biomimicry is the practice of drawing inspiration from nature to solve the sustainable design challenges we face.  This practice is especially relevant when we are challenged with adapting to regional and changing climate conditions.  The Global Biomimicry Network, of which Biomimicry Chicago is a regional node, is co-creating a framework to assist designers, planners, and municipalities with making communities that are well adapted to the climatic and cultural place in which we live. We call this learning from the “Genius of Place.”

Biomimicry Chicago’s “Prairie Project,” named for the city’s native tall grass prairie ecosystem, is dedicated to providing the information and tools necessary for everyone from individual gardeners to businesses and municipal governments to (Re)Connect with nature and our sense of place,(Re)Learn the wisdom of our ancestors, and (Re)Think how we live and design in our bioregion.

"Morphogenesis"

"Morphogenetic" bus by Altair Engineering for the NYT

I recently read a New York Times article on Altair, a company that developed software to emulate bone growth, where software optimizes the relationship between stress and form much like vertibrate bones do.

“During the design process using morphogenesis, coliseums may vaguely resemble rib cages; chairs can look like vines growing up a tree; and motorcycle frames can resemble the shape and strength of a snake’s jaw,” - Altair company prospectus

Image credit: Wikipedia.org

The idea is really nothing new - Leonardo Da Vinci was emulating nature's forms in his inventions in the 1400s.  What is fairly new is our access to powerful computers that allow such technology to exist.  Similar technology was used to create the famous biomimicry case study, the Mecedes Benz Bionic Car, where designers used "Soft Kill Option (SKO)" and "Computer-Aided Optimization (CAO)" software developed at the Karlsruhe Research Centre to analyze stresses and create a form that optimized material use.  This much lighter frame resulted in a 70 mpg efficiency with a conventional (non-hybrid) engine, saving resources not only at the gas pump but also in the production of the car.

“The engineering optimization found in nature is astonishing and often superior to our own innovations. Growth patterns and resource management systems within living organisms can be thought of as found technologies waiting to be understood and re-purposed for industry.” - William Myers, author of a new book Bio Design

What gets me excited about this subject are the possibilities of incorporating this engineering software into software used by architects and structural engineers when designing biomorphic, biophilic, and biomimetic architecture.  By incorporating not only natural algorithms into our buildings but also natural processes that result in natural aesthetics, we can create structures that truly emulate nature at the deepest levels.  We can reconnect ourselves aesthetically and functionally with the beauty and optimization of nature.  And THAT is truly beautiful.

References (in addition to those linked above)
http://www.altair.com/NewsDetail.aspx?news_id=10303&red=yes
http://www.asknature.org/product/99d6740a0a07a9d003480f1c414ee177

On the Creature Trail

We have been coming to Sanibel Island for many years, but it wasn't until I started learning about biomimicry that I really paid attention to the abundant Life that is present on this natural beach.  We took a recent trip to the beach at low tide and came across some fascinating creatures!  I even got other kids involved and one of their moms asked if I was a marine biologist.  I said no, I'm an architect, but I have an amazing instructor in biomimicry that is!  So, this post is a thank you to Biomimicry3.8's Dayna Baumeister.  Everyone involved in design should be lucky enough to learn from her and the amazing creature stories she shares.

Budding Scientists

Learning from Moon Snails

My daughter found this tiny (deceased) moon snail while walking on the beach with her Grandma.  We knew it had died because while the animal was still in the shell, it was floating and didn't retract when touched.  So we had a rare opportunity to look at it more and learn from the moon snail!

Tiny Moon Snail

I first heard of moon snails on my BPro kayaking trip to British Columbia.  We used a large moon snail shell as a "talking stick" for our opening and closing rituals, and one of the amazing biologists we kayaked with showed us the architectural egg casing that the moon snail creates using sand, seawater, and the mucus it secretes.  So when my daughter found this one, I got excited.  I showed her its foot and how it has tiny microscopic serrations that it uses to drill into clam shells, creating the little holes in the shells we used to make a necklace.

Tiny Moon Snail

We looked at the shell's gorgeous spiral shape and purplish color, the spiral a result of how it grows larger and builds its shell.  We think that the snail died because the protective cover on its foot got jammed on a slightly damaged shell edge and couldn't retract.  But this creature's misfortune gave us a chance to look at it closer.  And as the creature dried up and fell out of its shell, we got to examine it in greater detail.

Solving Mysteries on the Beach

One of my favorite things about my work is learning new things about environments I'm familiar with - going outside, exploring, and asking questions!  My family and I went walking along Sanibel Island during low tide and came upon a mystery.  We found these critters just floating in the shallow waters and had no idea what they were.  They were squishy and had "hairy" tentacles all over its back, but its belly was smooth.  We didn't know what it was, so we started to investigate and ask questions, biomimicry style.

Mystery Critter

We noticed it didn't have a shell like the other tidal organisms we found in the same area.  Why does he have a soft body when all of the other creatures here have a shell?  Especially in tidal areas, where this makes him more vulnerable to the ever present sea gulls.  What are the tentacles for?  Protection?  Camouflage?  Why was its belly so smooth and almost a thin membrane that concealed its insides?  And maybe the most interesting question - why was it here and why were they floating, seemingly lifeless?

Shelling (and Learning) with Kids

I have channeled my inner "snow bird" and flown south to Florida for a family vacation.  One of the first things we did - stopped at the beach!  Even a couple of sick kids can't keep us from the beach on New Years Eve Day.  While sitting there and digging in the sand, we found so many different shells that all had holes in them.  I channeled my inner Dayna (Baumeister, my illustrious biomimicry instructor) and explained to my daughter that the holes in the shells were not put there in order to make necklace creation easier (as she thought), but there because another type of mollusk (shelled invertebrate) drilled down into the shell with its tongue (!) and sucked out the poor clam through the hole and ate it!  The predator in this area - most likely a whelk.

Cross Barred Venus (Chione cancellata)

Lightening Whelk

"Sea snails use a radula, their ribbon-shaped tongue, to drill a hole in the shell of the clam. While drilling, the snails soften the shells by secreting carbonic acid and inserting the siphon. The clam is then digested inside its shell as the snail gulps down the remains of what Gulf Islands National Seashore park rangers call a 'clam milkshake.'" (Credit 6)

Thinking about Migration

I have emulated the fair weather birds and temporarily migrated to warmer climates – Florida!  My family has temporarily become a “snow bird” and escaped the Chicago winter in favor of the beach and the pool, if only for a week.  And it got me thinking about migration.

The energy it takes to move a body hundreds if not thousands of miles to find food and stay warm is immense.  Migratory birds have physical as well as behavioral adaptations that allow them to complete this momentous feat twice every year.  Some birds lose over 50% of their body weight burning fat to make an uninterrupted trip.  Other species fly the same route seasonally, and certain plants even time their flowering to coincide with the journeying pollinators.  Birds that migrate during the day take advantage of thermal currents over land.  Those that migrate at night avoid predators and overheating.

Human bodies have adapted to almost every climate on this planet through fat and our brain’s ability to manufacture clothing and artificial heating, but those with the means still find a way to migrate to warmer climates, if only for a short winter break.  While our bodies are fed and warmed through the long winters, it seems it heals the spirit to visit the sun.

Teaching Biomimicry to Young Kids

I have young kids preschool and kindergarten age, and one of my favorite things to do is to show them what I do by going outside.  On a recent day in late fall, we went into our backyard and went on a critter search.  Squirrels are abundant in my backyard because of the leftover food in the garden as well as the large maple tree which dominates our small lot.  So we set about investigating and learning about the squirrels.

Squirrels and their Amazing Tails

Children learn by doing, so at first we acted like squirrels.  We brought our hands up into claws and pretended to eat an acorn.  We hopped around on two feet simultaneously.  We wiggled our rear ends.  We talked about what they ate – acorns, ideally.  In our yard, birdseed, strawberries, pumpkins, the bulbs I had planted for spring (grrr) and really anything left in the garden that we didn’t harvest.  Then we talked about what eats them – dogs and coyotes came to mind, although our dog is much too old to do more than bark at them.  Then we pretended to be a squirrel and a coyote, a glorified game of tag, which they loved!  After all that exertion and thinking, we went back inside to do a little research and drawing.  I researched, my oldest drew a squirrel from a picture, and my youngest drank hot cocoa (Chicago is cold in November!). 

Changes in the Prairie Over Time

I've been visiting our local prairie preserve for a couple of years now and the summer of 2012 was different. It was a summer of drought, and when I visited this summer, the changes were noticeable.

Springbrook Prairie in April 2012

In our Tallgrass Prairie biome, the grasses should have been at least up to my chest and the majority of them were at my knees.  Certain areas that weren't burned have tall stands from last year next to the short ones of this year.  There are no credit cards in nature, so if the heat and drought were too much for one season, the grasses go dormant and wait for the following season.  Unlike our economic system, there is no unlimited growth in nature.

Taking a 100 Year Nap

Sometimes it is fun to go on creative thought experiments, like what would happen to your home if you took a nap for 100 years and woke to see what it would look like without adding the human energy and capital necessary to maintain it. One day in late summer, I did just that as I sat on the driveway in my front yard watching my kids ride their bikes up and down the street.

I live in a wood frame, two-story single-family home in a downtown area of a suburb outside of Chicago. The siding is cedar and the base in the front is clad with limestone. To the east our home is a large walnut tree that hangs over our house unless it is trimmed back. At the north-west corner is another large elm tree. Both are approximately 100 years old. So, if I were to sleep for 100 years old - what would my home look like? What parts would nature reclaim and what parts would remain recognizable?

Prior to settlement, my home was a part of a larger swath of oak woodland adjacent to a tallgrass prairie, so I can imagine that through drought cycles inherent in our climate, this type of vegetation will gradually overcome some of the introduced landscaping plants so prevalent in our neighborhood.

Deeply Listening to Nature

For this iSite, I was to work on improving my listening ability - but not in listening to other humans (though that could always use some work).  I was to listen to the creatures around me on a particular place in time, defer judgement, set aside distractions, and be present.  In this instance, in the woods while camping in British Columbia.

Wildlife Tree

I started out thinking about my stomach moving and the scratch of my pen as I wrote in my journal.  I heard waves crashing at an adjacent shore and birds honking and tweeting all around me.  I began to stare at a "wildlife spire," otherwise known as the stump of a 4' diameter Douglas Fir which had become a colony of life for moss, lichen, insects, micorbes, etc.  I thought about how the destruction of one life led to life for countless others smaller than the original.  I thought of Shiva, the Hindu God of destruction that is also the bringer of life and saw the beauty in its decay.  Life is opportunistic.  It grabs resources when it can.  And Life finds a way.