Biological Inspiration

Carter Mendoza
During the design phase, it was essential that we looked at many forms of
nature when taking inspirations for our design. We looked at all kinds of
plants, animals, and systems that might aid us in linking our design functions
to that of natures. We first found inspiration in a North African desert plant
known as the Jericho Rose (
Anastatica
), the plant is known for its survival
strategies and resurrection like properties. We also found inspiration in the
South American Grass Cutting Ant (
Acromyrmex Heyeri
), a subspecies of
Leafcutter Ants that using building techniques to increase survivability and
regulate temperature. Lastly, we took inspiration from Vertical Farming: a
system created inspired by rainforests. Vertical Farming has the ability to
increase efficiency in growing crops, as well as conserving space making it
suitable to be inside or close to city limits.
Each of these organisms/systems perform very different, unique functions
that can be applicable our design. The Jericho Rose performs a very unique
function similar to that of resurrection. After losing its access to water
(usually when the rainy season ends), the plant will dry up, and its branches
will curl up into a ball and enter a sort of hibernation. This gives the plant the
appearance of being dead and dried up but its actually very much alive and
preparing to spread its seed. Inside the dried up ball are the seeds, being
protected and contained by the dried up branches. When another rainy
season comes the plant wakes up, and its branches uncurl and release these
seeds into the ground nearby. These plants show extreme resilience and can
remain in their dormant state for years. These process of resurrection of
uncurling and recurling can be repeated multiple times in the plant's life. Now
lets look at another organism we found inspiration in, this one is a subspecies
of Leafcutter Ants, the South American Grass Cutter Ant. Ants, who are known
for their building abilities and colony formations, have different methods and
techniques to these built colonies. Many are mainly based underground and
use dug paths in the dirt. However, the South American Grass Cutter Ant
chooses to build its nest above ground on the surface. Now when building
their nest on the surface, there is much more concern for temperature and
humidity control. They use thatched nests made of plant fragments and
debris. The thatching pattern regulates temperature and humidity allowing
for the fungi inside to cultivate, feeding the colony. This function ensures the
colonies survivability and maintains their building behavior. Lastly, we looked
at a system inspired by nature. Vertical Farming, an idea of using 3-D
agriculture. Rather than planting crops on hundreds of acres of land, Vertical
Farming embraces the idea of planting crops on a small amount of land but
planting them vertically (think of it as a skyscraper farm). This function is
directly inspired by that of a rainforest, rainforests grow many plants on a

vertical axis conserve space and increasing efficiency with the space given.
The presence of this type of farming can lead to farms being close to or
within major city limits, as well as bring more fresh food to urban areas.
Now, during this process of looking for inspirations in nature we encountered
many other organisms that did functions we were looking for but that we
didnt find completely suitable or applicable in either or problem or our
design. One organism we were considering was the Temnothorax Ant
(
Temnothorax Albipennis
). We looked at many similar species of ant; the
colonies of ants is coincidentally quite similar to that of an urban city area
which is where a lot of problems of food deserts stem from. The Temnothorax
Ants have an impressive resilient ability to effectively ration food in a
famine.They use methods of food dilution, strategic food placement and living
silos to make sure that the colony is fed and survives. However, while the ants
functions were applicable to our main problem of food desserts, we found
difficulty in applying it to our design. We choose to go with another ant, the
South American Grass Cutting Ant, which shows similar resilience and
survivability while also having functions that could directly be applied to our
design. Another organism we were considering in our research phase was the
Cypress Tree (
Cupressus
). We were interested in the Cypress Trees ability
to transport food/nutrients. The tree does this function by using branched
fractal structures; these structures increase the plants surface area allowing
it to receive more nutrients from the environment as well as improve the
transport of these nutrients from inside the plant. This function showed
promise and could be easily applied to the design, but it didnt fit our
problem or show a direct correlation to how it could aid our design in solving
said problem.
Lets take it back to the organism's/systems we did choose, and look at the
strategy they use to perform their function. Just to refresh, our group looked
at the Jericho Rose, South American Grass Cutting Ants, and Vertical Farming
Systems. One of the Jericho Rosess most crucial functions was the ability to
protect its seeds and plant them even under adverse conditions. This is
mainly accomplished through its hydroclastic movement of its branches. Like
stated earlier, when the plant dries up, it curls its branches inwards into a ball
and protects the seeds within the branches and can do this for years at a
time. Once it gains access to water again, it opens up releases disperses
these seeds into the soil by alternating swelling and shrinkage of cells.
Another one of our organisms, the South American Grass Cutting Ants has a
function to regulate temperature and humidity within their nests. The
strategy they to do this function is a thatching pattern used when
constructing their above ground nest. This thatching material acts as
insulation that regulates and maintains temperatures within the nest. It
ensures that the nests dont overheat during the day while also preventing
major heat loss at night. Lastly, Vertical Farming, whose function is to

maximize space given and increase efficiency in farming; does so by farming

on a large amount of vertical space, rather than using acres and acres of
horizontal land. This vertical method of farming makes the most out of space
given and can increase space in areas with less open land such as cities. We
took all three of these organisms/systems as inspirations and directly applied
them to our design.
Now lets finally talk about our design. We named our design Anastatica,
named after the Jericho Rose. Our design acts as a small home garden that
can be used in food deserts where many people dont have easy access to
fresh food. It is a small-to-medium sized circular shaped pod connected to a
home water source of some sorts. The casing of the pod is split into three
petals that open up to reveal a small garden inside. Along these pedals is a
constructed mesh and small water lines to water the plant. The small garden
inside is composed of vertically stacked pots for plants to grow in. Now lets
look at how our inspirations that can be seen in our design. First off, the
entire casing and shape is inspired by the Jericho Roses curled up branches.
The pedals of the casing come together to form a ball-like shape to protect
the plants, similar to how the Jericho Rose curls up to protect its seeds. Its
because the shapes and structures are so similar we decided to name our
design after the Jericho Rose. Our next inspiration was the South American
Grass Cutting Ants thatched nests. We worried about our design overheating
in hotter climate areas, so we adopted the ants thatched nest pattern into
our design. The casing is made up of a constructed mesh that mimics the ants
thatching patterns; this mesh regulates heat and humidity in our design
similar to the ants nest. Lastly, we took inspiration from the Vertical Farming
system (inspired by rainforests). Inside the casing we choose to maximize as
much space within the design as possible, this included using the most of the
vertical space available. We used 3-D agriculture designs similar to that of
Vertical Farms and Rainforests to create our own 3-D agriculture within our
design. This increases the total space used and allows for more plants to be
grown, without using as much space. All of these functions that we found in
nature came together and made Anastatica, a efficient small garden for those
who live in areas where good fresh grown food is harder to come by.