FX Talks: Michael Pawlyn on the role of nature in architecture


Would you believe that it is possible for a building to be designed based off the inner workings of a fish? No, How about a camel?


Before you decide that we have completely lost our marbles, let us introduce you to Michael Pawlyn, the founder of Exploration Architecture, and his design concept 'biomimicry'.

Biomimicry in architecture involves using cues from nature to create a world of sustainable beauty. It is looking at how animals have adapted to coincide with nature and incorporates those adaptations into buildings to make them more sustainable.

We all know about the enlightenment period. That time during the 18th century when there was a rolling back of the power of the church and new faith in science. Since then we have gone from strength to strength with medicine, architecture and technology to create the society that we have today.

However Micahel Pawlyn thinks we might be entering what he describes as an ‘endarkenment’ period. In his FX Talk he notes how it’s becoming increasingly difficult to engage people in a conversation about the future of humanity.

“Economists make policies that effect all of our futures yet they don’t seem to have any understanding of planetary limits, climate sceptics are regarded as of equal weight as some of the world best climate scientists and there’s a sense that politics has become the least convincing of the performing arts.” Said Pawlyn.

Pawlyn suggests that there needs to be a solution to prevent us from falling into this state of ‘endarkenment’ permanently. One of those solutions is biomimicry.

“If we could learn to make things and do things the way nature does, then there is a very real chance that we could start to make buildings using far less material, using less energy and so on.” Said Pawlyn. In theory, biomimicry could change the face of architecture and sustainable building.

Pawlyn describes how he has already used biomimicry to design a number of buildings. He has drawn inspiration from a fish eye and a starfish to solve lighting problems when designing an office space and took some pointers from a camel’s nose to reuse water collected on the roof of a museum.

Pawlyn believes that biomimicry is a way to solve ever growing environmental concerns:

“Biology can be a fantastic source of solutions I really believe we have all the solutions we need, solutions to make really high performance buildings, which are healthier for people, buildings that use less resources and transform waste into value and even harvest water in the desert.” He said.

Still not convinced? Watch Michael Pawlyn’s full FX Talk below to find out just how much is possible with biomimicry.

 








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