Nature's architects

I was always facinated by the variety of things that are made by mother nature, and the efficiency of the architecture or structure. The feathers of birds, leaves of trees, birds nests, bees and termite nests are some examples. I used to think there were lessons for us there. I read a couple of years ago, for example, how the structure of the lotus leaf had inspired new types of synthetic materials, including glass, which may not need cleaning.



Therefore I was most interested in a program on BBC , which showed how some architects had made use of nature to study new ways to make more efficient structures and even eco-system like developments. This is indeed heartening to note. It is amazing how efficient, energy saving, pollution preventing, recycling and thus waste contriolling these are. And they are cost effective too.

The strange thing is as to why they are not part and parcel of city development all over the world.

see http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcthree/tv/bionic_buildings/gallery.shtml

See the remarkable secret of the lotus leaf

http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?chanID=sa003&articleID=00088C40-BE58-1E5F-A98A809EC5880105