My weekend Biomimicry Workshop at the Biosphere 2 in Arizona.

This was the view from our dinner table the first night at the workshop, with a prickly pear margarita in hand, my first night in Arizona.

As a closet biologist (attribute given to me by the Biomimicry Guild), I find nature incredibly fascinating. Before commencing my studies at the UPR’s school of architecture, I studied general sciences with an emphasis in genetics, physics, and geology. So you can just imagine how crazy my first year projects were. I used formulas like v=d/t to build a “habitable space” that when moved would “gain” time and thus travel through the space/time continuum. I used the second law of thermodynamics to deconstruct a museum, etc. Sometimes I would find myself staring into blank eyes and puzzled faces, probably not because the subject was foreign or complicated, but because I would get overly excited about my discoveries and move around the room a bit erratically.

To most of us in the design profession, nature is a fundamental part of the built environment: the human form, the golden section, proportion, scale, etc. But I feel at some point some of us lost that intuitive sensibility to the natural realm, maybe because of bottom lines, speed, paper work… who knows. Still, this weekend I felt it rush through me like a tidal surge.

As part of our homework, we had to list our three favorite animals. Upon arriving at the Biosphere we were given tags with our names and our three favorite animals. During our introductions, we had to talk about our list and why we had chosen that particular species. I found interesting the fact that most of us chose animals on very particular physical characteristics, for example, a dolphin’s shape, a hummingbird’s ability to hover, (mine) a flatfish’s migrating eye. Very few of us listed our pets. Surely not because we don’t love our pets (I love my cat), but because we are all intrigued about life’s “mysteries”.

I believe for me this was a true revelation. What I considered my “mystery” and intrigue, another -frequently the Biomimicry Guild experts, Dayna Baumister and Taryn Mead- considered a design tool. All of a sudden I was back in my comfort space, with my formulas on the wall, cultures in a petri dish, and genetic table. I realized I was a serious geek and loving it!

Our workshop sessions strived at allowing us to shed our knee-jerk design reactions, and think outside the proverbial box. Although, in my case, all I needed to do was open my eyes again to what was right in front of me, nature; everything I had read in college that had inspired me; everything in nature that moved me. Then I realized the setting, a space enclosing a savannah, a rain forest, a dessert, and a marsh, was an idyllic context for this adventure.  Our little sphere, Biosphere 2, had broken the box in 1991, and opened the door to Biosphere 1, the Earth. 

Then with the help of our Biosphere tour guides, Val and Nathan, we walked through the Rain Forest (reminding me so much of El Yunque, back at home in humid Puerto Rico), through the savannah, the beach oceanfront, the dessert and the marsh, all in less than half an hour… and all this time oblivious to the world below us, a man-made mechanical ecology of filters, air-handlers, pipes, and such.  

I almost felt like I was inside the movie Brazil, but without the feeling of impending doom. (If you haven’t seen it, rent it… it’s good!) This is the world we as architects live in, the underbelly of the sphere, generating our own ecologies and breathing life to man-made habitats.

More than often we would like to disregard these “back-of-house” spaces and concentrate on our beautiful and amazing facades and occupied spaces. Still, these are areas intrinsic to our designs and our built environment. These are the ones we need to revisit and rethink since these contribute to our sustainability problem. Looking into nature we can see how biology exists without fans, coils, etc. How does life manage to perpetuate itself on this planet?

How does nature regulate water? How does nature manage temperature? How does nature communicate? And so on…

So then, how do we learn from the cactus, the mangrove, and the prairie dog to update and revive our system of living? How do we design for life? Simple, look around you, but really see into the details and nature will unravel its mysteries for you. And when asked what do I need to become a biomimic? I say: a biologist in my pocket and an open mind. Now we have an entire guild of biologist at the table and a clear view of the horizon.

And finally, a “Shout-out” to my amazing Marsh Team… Chris, Thom, Darrel and Alberto, and the fantastic Biomimics, Dayna and Taryn!!

Go PODI!!!