Biomimicry : a solution to opposing forces?

Abstract

Due to Earth’s global temperature increase, natural disasters have become more substantial and recurrent in the last two decades. The island of Puerto Rico is threatened by two types of recurrent natural disasters: hurricanes and earthquakes. These phenomena negatively affect a building’s structural integrity in different ways: a storm is likely to negatively impact a more flexible architectural structure and an earthquake a more rigid one. These opposing demands on buildings require architects to design structures to be resistant to high wind loads or seismic loads, but not always both. To solve this problem, answers were found through the concept of biomimicry. This design solution mimics nature as a resilient system that has evolved for more than 3.8 billion years. The Challenge to Biology Design Spiral by Carl Hastritch was used as the primary resource to identify and translate natural models whose function resolves the design problem. First, a series of design objectives and procedures were enumerated, documented, and analyzed. Those criteria, along with data compiled through the investigation, was utilized to consult local biologists to help identify an endemic natural entity, whose functions meet the requirements analyzed in the first stage. Lastly, the biological model’s process to resist both phenomena was be mimicked and applied to the architectural design of a school, whose objectives were to resist the disaster and serve as shelter days after emergency events in Puerto Rico.