LESSON 4.1: NATURE'S UNIFYING PATTERNS

You read the first chapter of Janine Benyus' book (1997), Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature, in past weeks. In that chapter (on page 7), you will have discovered her list unifying patterns...

As she put it, "...we can begin to divine a canon of nature’s laws, strategies, and principles that resonates in every chapter of this book.

  • Nature runs on sunlight.
  • Nature uses only the energy it needs.
  • Nature fits form to function.
  • Nature recycles everything.
  • Nature rewards cooperation.
  • Nature banks on diversity.
  • Nature demands local expertise.
  • Nature curbs excesses from within.
  • Nature taps the power of limits."

This was the first list, among many, that have been created to develop an easy-to-use list of nature's unifying patterns.

10 of nature’s unifying patterns to consider

Below is a new collection of nature’s lessons that has been published by the Biomimicry Institute (2015) that biomimics will consideration every time they are working on a biomimetic design. You'll see some direct overlap with the Chapter 1 list, referenced above.

Nature's Unifying Patterns

  • Nature uses only the energy it needs and relies on freely available energy.
  • Nature recycles all materials.
  • Nature is resilient to disturbances.
  • Nature optimizes rather than maximizes.
  • Nature rewards cooperation.
  • Nature runs on information.
  • Nature uses chemistry and materials that are safe for living beings.
  • Nature builds using abundant resources, incorporating rare resources only sparingly.
  • Nature is locally attuned and responsive.
  • Nature uses shape to determine functionality.

 

Watch this introductory video about Download Nature's 10 Unifying Patterns

that I created for you. In the video, I provide a both a biological and design example for each pattern (~20 minutes).

Download Transcript of this video.

 

Do a Deep Dive into Nature's Unifying Patterns