BIOMIMICRY FRONTIERS & A ONTARIO BIOPHILIC HOME
Background
A residential home builder reached out to Biomimicry Frontiers to help creatively expand the possibility of a design-build project for a family home. The family was focused on improving personal wellness and creating balance through community rituals. The family also wanted to create a space that connected them to the land and minimized disruption to the local ecology. They wanted to create a space that could be a model for others; that helped showcase practical innovation. They also wanted to reduce their time spent maintaining the home. Instead, they wanted to spend their time immersed in nature and focused on the family.
As the house design had already been completed and approved, Biomimicry Frontiers focused on the form and façade of the building in their design approach. Our team had to imagine small-scale interventions that could help the home evolve towards a new ecosystem.
The Goal
The purpose of this project is to inspire new ways of imagining the design of the residence using biological strategies. Biomimicry Frontiers performed a high-level socio-ecological Story of Place and developed multiple Design Fiction approaches for how biomimicry could be integrated into the house. To support the design fiction, we included a metric for measuring the ideas and provided a catalogue of existing technologies that could support the ideas.
Story of Place | Understanding a Place; What it wants to do, what it will permit & what it will help us do.
Design Fiction | The development of believable ideas that may not yet be possible but that provoke a conversation around what could or should be possible.
Arctic Fox | a house that could “grow” layers
In nature, all systems constantly sense and respond to their dynamic environments. They use information rather than material to ensure resilience. We imagined a house that could communicate with the socio-ecological environment and support dynamic changes that “fit” the environment. and By cultivating cooperative relationships and inspiring greater diversity, the dwelling trended towards an enriched system through bottom-up evolution. To disrupt traditional thinking, we looked towards expert biological strategies to inspire biomimetic ideas. By focusing on the Arctic Fox, we proposed various entry points for biomimicry design. Our vision was to integrate very small, practical applications that over time could evolve with the home.
Like many mammals that live in areas with cold climates, the arctic fox will grow an extra coat of white fur in the winter and then shed it when warmer air arrives to revert to a brown-grey thinner summer coat. Not only is the colour of the fur vital for maintaining the temperature but the shedding also creates the necessary camouflage for the seasonal environment. The white hair is made up of hollow hairs that provide insulation to the body and the colour utilizes the sun’s rays, heating the hairs to bring warmth to the fox’s skin.
Responsive thermoregulation | Adding moveable, removable or collapsible functional layers to the structure
We suggested responsive thermoregulation to mimic the arctic fox. Responsive thermoregulation would allow us to add to the roof structure or facade of the home: moveable, removable or collapsible functional layers. These layers could be used to increase or decrease the light in the house. They could be self-organized via automation and provide a tangible and visual connection with nature.
We also explored adaptive and compostable facades. A modular facade that responds to the thermal needs and is positioned based on local micro-climes. They allow the house to grow layers as a method of thermoregulation and blend in with the seasons.
Visual Connection with Nature
To inspire a biophilic visual connection to nature, we wanted to include nature in the architectural elements. We also developed a wind-veil by designing a pergola structure designed as a tree canopy.
Resources
S.H.E.D | https://www.shedlightly.com/
