Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book describes the extent of solutions available in biomimicry, how architects are implementing those solutions, and the breadth of scale over which biomimicry is applicable. It deals with a guide to working effectively with biomimicry and how to deliver the buildings and cities we need for the ecological age. The pressures of survival have driven organisms into some almost unbelievably specific ecological niches and into developing astonishing adaptations to resource-constrained environments. The relevance of this to the constraints that humans will face in the decades ahead is obvious. The result is a zero net pushing force drill, which prevents breaking and buckling, and which is the perfect solution for very human applications, such as delicate neurosurgery. A neurosurgical probe has been developed based on the wasp ovipositor principles, offering advantages that rotating axles cannot match: it can drill around bends.