Marriage of Biology and Design: HOK-Biomimicry Guild Alliance

Posted by Andree Iffrig Sep 17, 2008

HOK, one of the world’s largest architecture and engineering companies, has formally tied the knot with the Biomimicry Guild. The two have been dating for years, collaborating on a variety of projects internationally. The alliance announced this week pairs HOK’s knowledge of sustainable design with the Guild’s experience in applying nature's best ideas to human interventions in the environment.

You might be wondering how biology and design make a good pair. Chip Crawford, director, The HOK Planning Group references a project in India on which the two firms have been working. Located in the hills of Maharashtra about three hours from Mumbai, development of the Lavasa hill station community presents significant micro-climate and environmental challenges. Monsoon rains, for instance, result in more water than the land can retain; drought later in the year empties cisterns.

There are ecological issues at the site. How do you design a townscape in a hilly region that has already been environmentally degraded by slash and burn agricultural practices? The answer to that question is complex, as HOK knows after more than seven years of planning in the area.

Using the principles of biomimicry, HOK is exploring a vernacular design response that will result in buildings that shed water the same way plants do. Nature uses a canopy or layering effect to capture water. Architects and planners will seek to duplicate that process in the built environment.

Dr. Dayna Baumeister, a co-founder of the Biomimicry Guild, views the alliance as a way to extend the Guild’s expertise in deploying biological adaptation to solve design and engineering challenges. Baumeister and Guild co-founder Janine Benyus have a well-earned reputation for product innovation and have worked with HOK on other projects.

The alliance is a ray of hope in an otherwise bleak week. Politicians underestimate environmental issues, and human greed is ever-present, as Wall Street reminds. The collaboration between HOK and the Biomimicry Guild is good news for an imperiled planet.