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Monday, September 16th, 2019

These self-cooled buildings were inspired by termites and frogs

Author:     Jane C. Hu
Source:     Grist
Publication Date:     Sep 6, 2019
 Link: These self-cooled buildings were inspired by termites and frogs
Stephan:   In order to maintain a sustainable civilization as the climate changes we will have to give up the Abrahamic Dominionist view which makes profit our only social priority. Instead, we will have to see ourselves as a part of the matrix of consciousness recognizing that all consciousnesses are interconnected and interdependent . This will create new technologies, and here is an example, an early data point on what will become a powerful trend.

The interior of the Eastgate Center, a retail and office building in Harare, Zimbabwe, modeled after a termite mound.
Credit: Mick Pearce

Faced with record-breaking temperatures, sweltering heat waves, and soaring AC costs, engineers and architects are finding creative ways to maintain livable temperatures indoors while using less energy. Their muse: plants, animals, and insects.

We’ve got a lot to learn from the natural world. After all, humans are far from the only species that has shown resilience in the face of extreme heat. Creatures ranging from Australia’s night parrot, a desert-dweller evolved to be nocturnal, to the Dorcas Gazelle, which conserves water by not peeing, have survived in intensely warm environments for millions of years. Why not take a page out of their book?

Perhaps the most famous example of nature-inspired architecture comes from Mick Pearce, a Zimbabwean architect whose designs model termite mounds. Termites might not be the most majestic creatures, but they build impressively tall skyscrapers — towers of dirt that can top 30 feet. (If humans built a tower the same […]

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