Course Response 05

The concept we talked about in class this week that stuck with me the whole weekend was biomimicry.  My favorite point Mcdonough made in the TED video we watched dealt with the concept. He remarks on the genius and complexity that a single tree possess, "If we think about the tree as a design, it’s something that makes oxygen, sequesters carbon, fixes nitrogen, distills water, provides a habitat for hundreds of species, accrues solar energy, makes complex sugars and food, creates micro-climates, self-replicates. So, what would it be like to design a building like a tree? What would it be like to design a city like a forest? So what would a building be like if it were photosynthetic? What if it took solar energy and converted it to productive and delightful use?" There is so much a designer can learn from reproducing natural systems, and what better way to preserve resources than to mimic the ecosystems they come from.