BioInspired! So What? Now What!

Are you curious about tools that can help cross-disciplinary teams explore connections between biomimicry and design?  Or how biomimicry is being incorporated into interior design studios?  Or how an architecture course explores kinetic aspects of biological systems to inform the design and engineering of buildings?  Then our webinar proceedings are perfect for you.  Read all about these innovative courses and tools, learn the myriad of ways professors are engaging students in biomimicry education, and view some stunning project visuals created by students.

2014/02/19 Updated

At Biomimicry 3.8, we believe there is no better design partner than nature. But biomimicry is more than just looking at the shape of a flower or dragonfly and becoming newly inspired; it’s a methodology that’s being used by some of the biggest companies and innovative universities in the world. In this engaging, multi-media immersion into the world of Biomimicry, you’ll gain a competitive edge and a fresh perspective on how the world around us can, does, and should work.

At this Hot Topics event, our specialist panel - Rob Kesseler, Central Saint Martins College of Art & Design, Alex Parfitt, BAE Systems, Denise DeLuca, Swedish Biomimetics 3000 and panel chair Will Pearson, Director of Technology, Ravensbourne - debated how ideas flow from biology to product design, what tools and institutions enable this process, and how specialists in art, design, architecture, engineering and biology are bought together to solve tomorrow’s problems.

Carl Hastrich of the Ontario College of Art and Design (OCAD) maintains an extensive blog on the topic of "emerging design ideas of biomimicry, critical creativity, sustainability and strategic thinking".  Recent posts include:

The book opens with a quote from Buckminster Fuller. "You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete." From there on in Pawlyn sets out to demonstrate how biomimicry offers architects a whole new system to design by. A system that will produce not only radically more efficient and effective structures, with great savings on material and energy costs, but also stunningly beautiful buildings that will have the 'bilbao effect' wherever they are located.

The link has a 31 minute video of Dayna Baumeister's plenary talk at Bioneers.

Life's Operating Manual :

Envision what our world would and could look like if we actually started reading and following the directions contained in “Life’s Operating Manual.” Co-founder with Janine Benyus of the Biomimicry Guild and Biomimicry Institute, Dayna Baumeister provides an eagle’s-eye view of biomimicry breakthroughs using ecological design and nature-inspired technologies that emulate nature’s profound design sophistication. She has worked in the field of biomimicry with Janine Benyus since 1998 and designed and teaches the world’s first Biomimicry Professional Certification Program.

This is a four-part program in German and French:

1. The art of movement: March 4
2. Building with efficiency: March 11
3. Orientation in the chaos: March 18
4. Materials of the future: March 25