The analogy that we’re striving to make between the biological systems found in nature and the ‘organic’ systems found within buildings can transcend multiple different levels of comparison. For one, we can emulate nature purely through the exterior form or appearance of a building. But on a deeper (and perhaps more relevant to the systems we will be studying and designing in this course) level, there are symbolic analogies between natural and built systems. Many of these were presented in this weeks modules: we can regard a building envelope as an organism’s skin, the structural system as the skeleton, or the HVAC system as the respiratory system of a living creature.
To start, on a superficial level, we can see many instances of biomimicry in the form of a building or perhaps in its interior design. Some examples that come to mind include the Beijing Olympics’ birds’ nest (imitating a bird’s nest, obviously), Gardens by the Bay in Singapore (big trees), or Calatrava’s Oculus (also a bird) (all pictured below).
But on a less visual and more symbolic level, we can understand that many of the organic networks and systems in nature — whether be at a cell, organism, or ecosystem level — are similarly analogous to systems within a building. I really liked the analogies introduced in the module; since they use an organism as a basis of comparison, I’d like to put forth a comparison between buildings and something at an ecosystem level.
I recently finished a super interesting book on mycorrhizal networks, which are, simply put, comprised of fungal connections between roots of trees which allow for the flow of carbon dioxide and nutrients between trees in the same forest and allow trees to communicate and have ‘dialogue’ with one another (shown below).
While I enjoyed the analogy presented in the module between the information network in a building and a human’s central nervous system, I posit that the mycorrhizal network between trees and fungi could be an even better analogy. While mycorrhizal networks have been described similarly as neural networks, they have no central ‘brain’ and are simply a network that enable the complex transmission of information between trees in a forest that provides mutual benefit for all participants and for the ecosystem as a whole. Similarly, a building intelligence system has many equal components that ‘speak’ to one another and give feedback (I would argue that the human controlling from a tablet or computer is just an equal part of this complex ecosystem, and not necessarily the central ‘brain’). You might buy the argument or you might not, but I think it’s something interesting to think about!
