Biomimicry is a design discipline that seeks sustainable solutions by emulating nature’s time-tested patterns and strategies. The goal is to create products, processes, and policies–new ways of living–that are well-adapted to life on earth over the long haul. Biomimics around the world are learning to grow food like a prairie, cool buildings like a termite, harness energy like a leaf, create color like a peacock, compute like a cell, and run a business like a redwood forest. These bio-inspired designs are elegant, functional, and life sustaining. Besides helping our species earn a longer stay on the planet, biomimicry has the potential to change the way we view and value non-human nature. It encourages us to view nature not as a source of goods, but as a mentor, a source of wisdom.
In this special tribute to Bill Valentine, Janine Benyus, the author of Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature, will highlight the Biomimicry Guild’s exciting alliance with HOK, which has embraced biomimicry as one of the most important tools used by their designers to create built environments in partnership with nature.
