News
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Biomimicry Guild goes large in the built environment
Biomimicry, the interdisciplinary practice of adapting nature’s solutions to human designs and inventions, has made a big move into the built environment. The international architecture and engineering firm HOK has announced an alliance with the Biomimicry Guild, the preeminent biomimicry consultancy, with the aim of integrating “nature’s innovations in the planning and design of buildings, communities, and cities worldwide.” The alliance has begun its work by exploring the use of “bio-inspired ideas” in ...
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AskNature.org from the Biomimicry Institute
Biomimicry brings nature’s solutions to design problems and AskNature.org brings current internet technology to the biomimicry discussion. AskNature.org, created by the Biomimicry Institute, offers the beginnings of an encyclopedia of nature’s solutions to common design problems such as structural support, adhesion, energy harvesting, and cleaning. Natural design solutions are linked to products based on that solution when they are available (an entry on photosynthesis, for example, links to an entry on dye-based solar cells). Each entry ...
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350 ppm
Global warming is happening faster than predicted and human activity is responsible. The most recent science tells us that unless we can reduce the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere to 350 parts per million, we will cause huge and irreversible damage to the earth. 350 is the number that leading scientists say is the ...
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The Case For Deconstruction.
In October of 2006 the developer and design-build team of the ‘Uptown Monterey’ project [Trader Joe's] committed to making it the first LEED certified shopping center in the state of California… with little to no flexibility in the schedule or budget. A key component was the deconstruction of a former grocery store on site, followed by the reuse of salvaged building materials in one of the new buildings. In August 2008 the project finally received its long-awaited ...