BCGC hosted a one-day bio-inspired design symposium at the CITRIS center on February 21, 2018, as part of its ongoing mission to promote interdisciplinary collaboration and healthier material choices in the building industry. This event featured four different perspectives on solving problems in architecture and design using solutions derived from the natural world.
Speakers included:
- Dr. Maria Paz-Gutierrez, Professor of Architecture, UC Berkeley
- Dr. Simon Schleicher, Assistant Professor of Architecture, UC Berkeley
- Thomas McKeag, Executive Director of Berkeley Center for Green Chemistry
- Anamarija Frankic, the founding director of the Green Harbors Project at UMass Boston
- Michael Pawlyn, author, architect and TED speaker; gave the key note address
Michael Pawlyn is the founder of Exploration, an architectural firm, an internationally-renowned architect, and an innovator in the fields of biomimicry and sustainability. Prior to establishing his design firm Michael Pawlyn worked with Grimshaw for ten years and was central to the team that radically re-invented horticultural architecture for the Eden Project in Cornwall, UK. He was responsible for leading the design of the Warm Temperate and Humid Tropics Biomes and the subsequent phases. He is a co-founder of the Sahara Forest Project, an integrated approach to greening arid lands by using greenhouses to desalinate seawater and grow specialty crops. His book “Bimimicry in Architecture,” an important work on the subject, is now in its second printing.
The presenting materials from the bio-inspired design symposium can be found below.
- Maria Paz-Gutierrez – Material Characterization & the Character Of Matter
- Simon Schleicher – A methodology for transferring principles of plant movements to elastic systems in architecture.
- Tom McKeag – Bio-inspired Design and Green Chemistry
- Anamarija Frankic- Designing for Disasters
- Michael Pawlyn – A Camel is Not a Horse Designed by Committee
