Most folks would agree that Nature’s resilient architecture has successfully sustained our planet since time immemorial. Yet, recently, CNN (Cable News Network) asked the question, “Is Nature Over?”
Until recently, we didn’t have tools to simulate natural processes and study how the natural world works. As humanity faces a planetary crisis of epic proportions, we’ve never had so many cutting-edge research tools at our disposal. Perhaps in studying Nature’s building blocks, earth stewards are approaching ever nearer to demonstrating that Mother Nature knows best!
What can we learn from Nature’s Architecture?
In a collaborative effort, thought leaders worldwide are coming together to discuss solution-driven sustainability challenges – to empower the collective in reversing the downward trend threatening the survival of all biological life. To some, it may seem weird that in copying Nature’s perfect blueprint we could ultimately, save our planet.
However, the Biomimicry Institute aims to do just that. Biomimicry is empowering researchers to study how Nature does it – it’s the study of how we can take lessons from Nature to find sustainable solutions to everyday living upon our bountiful planet.
So, how can the study of Nature’s architecture offer viable sustainability solutions? To paraphrase, Robert J. Gilbert, Ph.D – pearls of wisdom from “The Hidden Energy Science of Sacred Geometry’’, “with increased awareness that the more that we can learn to peacefully collaborate, the more likely, it is that hybrid fields like biomimicry can take root and flourish.”
BioDomes – Exploring Nature’s Architecture
The Sentient Plant BioDome Projectat Lila School – Los Feliz campus in Los Angeles, California has a cool new device for measuring and recording electrical signals from plants. Inside the Zen-like BioDome, Mileece, a sonic artist connects small electrodes to plants that conduct bio-electric emissions from living plants to produce audible sounds.
How does this work? Basically, data is processed from recorded waveforms through Mileece’s hybrid ‘synth’ software – then, translated into natural musical soundscapes and organic electronic music – sounds pleasing to both humans and plants.
“It’s about changing the paradigm of an individualistic society into one of collaboration.”Mileece is a multi-disciplinary sonic artist, environment designer and renewable energy ambassador. Her life’s work is about creating projects that “facilitate connections between people and plants.”
ORBS –Nature’s Architecturein an Outdoor Classroom
ORBS are domes, that mimic Nature’s flawless blueprint, designed to create natural wilderness environments where young students get to feel and interact with Nature. Mileece says that, “it’s a way to unhinge from technology – there’s a place for that, but it’s not a replacement for our very physiological connection with Nature”.
Greenhouse classroom
The outdoor classroomsetting affords practical hands-on experience in exploring the sentient life of plants – thereby, deepening children’s appreciation and inter-connectedness with their natural world.
Outdoor classrooms support the mounting evidence that natural sunlight and outdoor activities increase memory and learning capacity by up to 20%. We have only recently begun to take notice of the many benefits derived by relocating facets of traditional indoor learning to natural sunlight classroom environments.
Nature’s Architecture – The Geodesic Dome
Buckminster Fuller, father of the modern geodesic dome, was a student of Nature. Fuller’s geodesic domes were designed from Nature’s own sacred geometry. This geometry mirrors itself throughout the interwoven continuum of the cosmos.
Aptly named after Bucky Fuller, ‘Buckyballs’, (aka ‘Fullerenes’) are icosahedral molecules with 60 linked carbon atoms. More recently, science has uncovered that we live in a holographic universe where Buckyballs are found at every scale, from nano-particles to galactic-measure.
Inspired master thinkers , such as Buckminster Fuller have left behind a legacy for others to follow – a legacy that promises a future of radiant possibility, as we reach for the stars. Imagine students from around the world collaborating to solve planetary issues inside the harmonic resonant architecture of a geodesic-engineered planetarium dome.
Buckminster Fuller Institute (BFI) hosts a number of monthly programs, events and worshops throughout the year. Many of the events are public, Visit BFI’s Event Schedule Here.
The Sentient Plant BioDome Project at Lila School – Los Feliz campus in Los Angeles, California has a cool new device for measuring and recording electrical signals from plants. Inside the Zen-like BioDome, Mileece, a sonic artist connects small electrodes to plants that conduct bio-electric emissions from living plants to produce audible sounds.
How does this work? Basically, data is processed from recorded waveforms through Mileece’s hybrid ‘synth’ software – then, translated into natural musical soundscapes and organic electronic music – sounds pleasing to both humans and plants.
“It’s about changing the paradigm of an individualistic society into one of collaboration.”
Mileece is a multi-disciplinary sonic artist, environment designer and renewable energy ambassador. Her life’s work is about creating projects that “facilitate connections between people and plants.”
ORBS – Nature’s Architecture in an Outdoor Classroom
ORBS are domes, that mimic Nature’s flawless blueprint, designed to create natural wilderness environments where young students get to feel and interact with Nature. Mileece says that, “it’s a way to unhinge from technology – there’s a place for that, but it’s not a replacement for our very physiological connection with Nature”.
