BENGALURU: In a first, a few colleges in the city are opening up to the idea of biomimicry, which looks at finding solutions to real-world problems by observing and mimicking nature. Earlier this month, Dayananda Sagar College of Architecture started its elective on Biomimetics for students. They followed in the footsteps of RV College of Architecture, becoming the first few colleges here to have a Biomimetics elective.
“Biomimicry is an interactive subject, where we could actually apply what we learnt - it is not just restricted to theory. We did projects that could either look at nature and mimic it in the field of architecture, or look at issues we face and take inspiration from nature to fix them. For instance, we went to observe the ant colony in Lalbagh and learn how leaf-cutter ants broke leaves with a simple push and pull mechanism, which generated a lot of power,” says Aditi Sreedhar, a student at RV College.
Her group imitated the ants to make temporary suspension bridges more efficient. “These suspended structures can be dismantled easily if the cables employ the push and pull mechanism used by these ants. This means the bridge can be dismantled without much external energy,” she says.
Naveen Kumar, a student of Dayanand Sagar College of Architecture, believes he has learnt the impact of our actions on nature through this course. “We use brick and mortar to build and we don’t usually think about the effects of these on the environment.
When we get into how nature builds, it is more symbiotic and on a micro-level. For example, we learn about how butterflies are of varied colours depending on the climate where they live. The same can be applied to the colour scheme we use to paint our walls and buildings, depending on the climatic conditions we live in,” he says, adding that biomimicry becomes more important since the focus is now on dynamic architecture.
Seema Anand, visiting faculty who teaches Biomimicry to undergraduates at both these colleges, says, “We find that students are more open to learning this subject. Be it fashion, architecture, engineering on any other field, nature can be copied to come up with better designs and ideas.”Seema and her husband Prashant Dhawan teach short courses and hold talks at Srishti Institute of Art, Design and Technology; National Institute of Design; National Centre for Biological Science; University of Agricultural Sciences; BMS College of Engineering, and other colleges in Bengaluru.
Biomimicry is a necessary subject: Institution heads
“Biomimicry teaches us how to relate to nature and take inspiration from it in order to design structures. It connects us with current discussion on sustainability. Construction has always been in conflict with nature, and a course such as this one will help students create better designs that do not harm the environment,” says OP Bawan, prinicpal, RV College of Architecture, who is also the chairman of the Board of Studies (Architecture) at Visvesvaraya Technological University (VTU).
He was instrumental in bringing the elective into the VTU syllabus, giving all affiliated colleges a chance to pick it up as an elective. Gaddam D Ramesh, director of Architecture, Dayananda Sagar Academy of Technology and Management, says, “Biomimciry is definitely a necessary subject for our students. There is so much geometry and design in nature, and solutions can also be found in it. All they have to do is decode these solutions, and use them in a field of their choice.”