There are many analogies to biological organisms and systems that can be used to inspire more efficient building systems. Biological organisms represent complex, interconnected systems that can be highly adaptable to changing conditions, particularly environmental conditions, which is an important component of efficient building systems.
One overarching analogy is between a building’s structural frame and an organism’s skeleton (for organisms that don’t have exoskeletons). Bones represent a rigid framework that protect vital organs in an organism’s body and provide the support for all other internal systems. Skeletons also aim to evenly distribute forces, preventing bone fractures that could stem from localized stress. Similarly, a building’s structural frame must anchor and support all other internal systems, while ensuring an even distribution of loads.
Similar to the skeleton analogy, building envelopes can be compared to an organism’s skin. Skin acts as a protective barrier in many organisms and helps regulate temperature, prevent moisture loss, and protect the body against external threats. Building envelopes, composed of walls, roofs, and insulation, provide similar functions to a building system: they maintain internal comfort by managing heat transfer, moisture, and air filtration.
On a larger scale, urban infrastructure systems can look to models of ecosystem interdependence, specifically mutualism relationships, to increase system efficiency and resiliency. Like in industrial ecology, building systems can look to design closed-loop cycles, such as waste-to-energy systems or greywater recycling. Similar to how greater biodiversity enhances the resilience of an ecosystem, functional redundancy can be incorporated into a building system to establish greater resiliency and adaptability to variability in conditions. This might include using distributed energy sources to provide energy autonomy in the case of grid failure.