page_title: Biomimetic architecture
section_title: Behavior Level
hierarchical_section_title: Biomimetic architecture / Examples of biomimicry in architecture / Behavior Level
caption_attribution_description: English: Eastgate Centre, Harare, Zimbabwe (foreground, the building with the large number of chimneys on top)
context_page_description: Biomimetic architecture is a contemporary philosophy of architecture that seeks solutions for sustainability in nature, not by replicating the natural forms, but by understanding the rules governing those forms. It is a multi-disciplinary approach to sustainable design that follows a set of principles rather than stylistic codes. It is part of a larger movement known as biomimicry, which is the examination of nature, its models, systems, and processes for the purpose of gaining inspiration in order to solve man-made problems.
context_section_description: On the behavior level, the building mimics how the organism interacts with its environment to build a structure that can also fit in without resistance in its surrounding environment.
  The Eastgate Centre designed by architect Mick Pearce in conjunction with engineers at Arup Associates is a large office and shopping complex in Harare, Zimbabwe. To minimize potential costs of regulating the building's inner temperature Pearce looked to the self-cooling mounds of African termites. The building has no air-conditioning or heating but regulates its temperature with a passive cooling system inspired by the self-cooling mounds of African termites.  The structure, however, does not have to look like a termite mound to function like one and instead aesthetically draws from indigenous Zimbabwean masonry.
  The Qatar Cacti Building designed by Bangkok-based Aesthetics Architects for the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Agriculture is a projected building that uses the cactus's relationship to its environment as a model for building in the desert. The functional processes silently at work are inspired by the way cacti sustain themselves in a dry, scorching climate. Sun shades on the windows open and close in response to heat, just as the cactus undergoes transpiration at night rather than during the day to retain water.  The project reaches out to the ecosystem level in its adjoining botanical dome whose wastewater management system follows processes that conserve water and has minimum waste outputs. Incorporating living organisms into the breakdown stage of the wastewater minimizes the amount of external energy resources needed to fulfill this task.  The dome would create a climate and air controlled space that can be used for the cultivation of a food source for employees.
caption: Eastgate Centre, Harare, Zimbabwe
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