Liquid Triangle: Naturally Inspired

So the groundhog got me thinking...

2012-02-09T12:46:00.001-06:00

...how do animals adapt to freezing Chicago winters?

Humans seal ourselves off in conditioned homes and cars, burning a lot of fossil fuel energy to do so. But animals don't have that option. So how do they do it? I decided to revisit my grade school classes and relearn what I've forgotten. And maybe there is something we can learn for design.

Groundhogs

Photo credit: National Geographic Society

Groundhog Day got me think, of course, about groundhogs. As I learned in grade school, they do in fact hibernate from approximately October to March, but toward the end of hibernation (oh, say February 2nd or so?), they enter various stages of arousal to test the temperature and scope out new territory before entering into a semi-hibernated state like torpor. The purpose of hibernation, of course, is to conserve calories when food is scarce, so the animal's metabolic rate slows and the body cools, respiration and heart rate are depressed. Groundhogs enter into obligate hibernation, where they are aroused by internal mechanisms and usually unable to be aroused due to external stimluli. Other animals enter into facultative hibernation, or semi-hibernation, where they are able to be aroused but the purpose is the same: conserve energy when it is scarce.

As is common in nature, this is caused by a chemical reaction. The mechanism that causes this state, dubbed the hibernation inducement trigger (HIT), as a chemical process is not yet fully understood. In mice, studies show the mechanism to be a type of adrenalin that stimulated fat cells to induce dormancy. It is triggered as a response to (usually) lower ambient temperature and time of year, among other individual body characteristics of the animal such as fat levels and hair type. The animals pack on enough fat before hibernation to survive the winter, both in terms of insulation and calorically, and they enter into a deep sleep state that suppresses their metabolic rate to conserve energy that would have otherwise been spent to keep them warm. Groundhogs designate separate "winter burrows" for this purpose, dug just below the frost line (42" below grade in Chicago), where temperatures remain constant and above freezing.

Photo credit: Brooklyn.Eva.Bailey

So what can we as humans learn from the groundhog?

I'm pretty sure I wouldn't want to sleep 6 months out of the year, but the idea of entering into a state of dormancy to conserve energy is something we practice but can can do more.

We now have programmable thermostats that can drastically decrease the temperature of rooms when unoccupied, such as the first floor or basement of your home when you are asleep upstairs. You just need to remember to set them.
Building operations phasing. Sections of a building, or even entire buildings, can be rendered dormant when not in use, leaving only crucial functions such as dehumidification or heating to maintain above freezing temperatures, intact. This can be used in existing buildings.
In a business resilience context, protocols could be set in place that automatically shut down operations or product lines in locations where resources are temporarily scarce with protocols for their reinstatement when resources come back online.
The hibernation inducement trigger as a chemical response has design applications that include extended life for organ transplants, less stress to the body during surgery, and suspended animation for interstellar space travel. The sky's the limit!

What about building underground? Burrowing down multiple stories and building undergound cities is something out of science fiction for a reason - it is cost prohibitive, interferes with water tables, and is not feasible for areas with high density populations. But perhaps we can take these lessons and apply them to our existing context.

The steady state temperature below the frost line is used in geothermal heat pump systems to cycle water through a building and more passively heat and cool structures. Wouldn't it be cool if our basement concrete floor slabs incorporated geothermal technology by cycling water through the slab, which is already below the frost line, through the building to partially heat and cool the building?
During the energy crisis of the 1970s, underground housing started to become popular. In it's way, it's genius. The earth above acts as insulation and a wind break, thereby saving energy in a completely passive way. The issue with underground housing is density - it just isn't feasible in more populated areas. But the concepts of hyper insulation and curved structures to deflect wind can be emulated in building form and performance design and are directly applicable to cold climates.
In areas where building partially underground is feasible, the earth removed from the excavation can be reused at the sides of the building as a berm, directing cold winter air up and over the building passively.

Up next...learning from insects to survive the winter...specifically, honeybees. So much to learn! I welcome your comments, thoughts, and ideas.

Amy

Resources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Groundhog
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hibernate
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torpor
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Estivation
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hibernation_induction_trigger
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn8668-the-groundhog-wakes-but-why-did-he-hibernate.html
http://brooklynavabailey.blogspot.com/2011/02/groundhog-report.html (photo)
http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/wallpaper/groundhog_image.html (photo)

Thinking about Niches - a Spanish Biomimicry iSite

2012-02-01T15:49:00.001-06:00

In Spain for our latest BProfessional intensive, we had an iSite where we picked an organism and looked to find it's niche - how it fits in with its environment. The location of our retreat was a hilly area with lots of clay, falling rocks, and erosion. And even without a lot of water - the area was almost considered a desert - plants were there to stabilize some of the soil. There were quite a few plants with really gnarly roots that seemed to zigzag down the slope in such a way that I thought it could be a stabilization mechanism, much like how we spread our feet and place them parallel to the slope to stabilize ourselves on a steep slope. I can't find any mention of this form in the literature I've referenced, but I'm sticking with my observation until proven wrong. So when looking at the contextual limiting factors for this Rosemary bush, it would seem that its ability to thrive in unstable soil with poor nutrients and not a lot of water allowed it to carve out a niche where other organisms aren't able to survive. And the zigzag form is one that I find interesting. This tool for natural observation is one that I find useful when trying to understand the contextual factors that influence an organism's ability to survive and be resilient against adverse conditions.

Upcoming Biomimicry Seminar in Chicago

2012-01-19T15:31:00.001-06:00

I am presenting a seminar on Biomimicry as a design innovation strategy at the Chicago Center for Green Technology Thursday, April 12th at 6pm, with Lindsay James (BProfessional 2013 Candidate and Sustainability Strategist at InterfaceFLOR). The course is a professional service and free, but registration is required. Hope to see you there!

Biomimicry: Naturally Inspired Design Innovation

SPEAKER: Amy Coffman Phillips, Liquid Triangle Sustainability; and Lindsay James, InterfaceFLOR

Biomimicry, the practice of learning from nature to solve human problems, is emerging as a powerful tool for creating sustainable design and systemic transformation. Applied at a variety of scales, from individual products to buildings and organizations, biomimicry bring nature’s 3.8 billion years of innovation experience to the table. Our discussion will examine this quickly evolving practice, review what it is, how it is being applied and its powerful potential for the future. AIA/CES: 2LU

Click here for the full course catalog - lots of fun programs!

Biomimicry in Architecture, and in My Life

2012-01-19T14:05:00.002-06:00

I just got back from my fourth BProfessional intensive in Almaria, Spain, and as always, it was a transformative experience. While there I had the pleasure of meeting and learning from Michael Pawlyn, British architect and founder of Exploration Architecture, a firm focused exclusively on sustainable projects that take inspiration from nature. His book "Biomimicry in Architecture" is a gorgeous treatise on embodying natural forms and processes into the built environment, and for those of you who haven't seen this TED talk, I highly recommend it.

In this TED talk and in our session, he eloquently describes what drew me to biomimicry in the first place, that it is a positive way of thinking and talking about sustainable design. It doesn't focus on incremental changes, but on complete paradigm shifts that change your perspective. He says that biomimicry is about "synergies, and abundance, and optimizing" and "sets people's souls ablaze." I couldn't agree more. I had the same feeling after my first BProfessional intensive that I did after reading "Cradle to Cradle" by William McDonough - it was a paradigm shift in the way we look at fitting in with this world.

The idea of mimicking the interactions between mature ecosystems, as shown in Grahm Wiles' "Cardboard to Caviar" project and the Sahara Forest Project, is particularly appealing to me. Mr. Pawlyn talks about competition as a sign of an immature ecosystem where in mature ecosystems, symbiotic relationships are the standard. To me, that's radical thinking in our capitalist environment where everyone, it seems, is out for themselves. But we aren't going to change the world to be more sustainable within the competitive power structures that exist today. We need a paradigm shift. The following became our mantra for the week:

Go fast = go alone
Go far = go together

I hope to embody this meme everyday in my work and life. It goes against the normal business grain, so this won't be an easy challenge to live up to. But it is necessary to accomplish great things. We need networks. We need collaborators. We need to work together. Biomimicry, for me, is so much more than mimicking forms and processes into design. It's about reconnecting with the natural world and embodying the ethics of sustainability within my work and life. It's about reconnecting with the genius of the place I live in and learning from life around me. And it's about setting lofty goals and living my life trying to achieve them.

As always, the BProfessional intensive retreats are intense sessions of visioning and transformation and I feel so fortunate to be on this path.

Drawing of a Nautilus Shell

2011-12-20T13:48:00.000-06:00

Abstracting a natural object and graphically depicting it as an architectural object.

Thanks, Wikipedia

2011-11-22T13:50:00.000-06:00

Wikipedia is a free resource I use every day and my work would be so much more complicated without having this one place to look up scientific topics, read their synopsis and follow their links. It is a non-profit entity and looking for donor support. I encourage you to support their mission.

“	Imagine a world in which every single person on the planet has free access to the sum of all human knowledge.	”
—Jimmy Wales, Founder of Wikipedia

On Biomimicry in Buildings: A Work in Progress

2011-11-15T13:41:00.004-06:00

Missing photo credit. File no longer found.

The integration of biomimicry into the built environment is a work in progress and I am continually looking for models that explore its potential. Below are my thoughts as of now and I am hoping to continue this discussion for years to come.

Biomimicry and Living Buildings. I have heard that the Living Building Challenge was inspired by biomimicry, but I don't know this for a fact. Even if it weren't, many of its principles are the same: building performance tied to regional characteristics (life's principle to be locally attuned & responsive), limits to growth (integrate growth with development), zero impact (material/energy efficiency), and integrating beauty. I can think of many building products and a few examples of partial systems integration (the living waste water treatment eco-machine at the Omega Center or various products, as quick examples), but I can think of only one building (Eastgate Center in Zimbabwe) where it has been integrated on both a metophorical as well as performance basis. I am constantly searching for more examples of building integrated biomimicry and would welcome any suggestions that come my way.
Nature as Measure. Similar to the zero impact prerequisite set by the Living Buildings Challenge, using the inherent ecosystem services of a site as a measure to benchmark the ecological performance of a particular building is very powerful. If a site was formally prairie that absorbed and held x gallons of water, y number of species, and z tons of biomass, designers can strive to create buildings that strive to meet or exceed this threshold. I especially like the Mannahatta Project as an example because as a virtual ecological restoration of the island of Manhattan, it holds the genius of the original place as a benchmark by which the ecological performance of a site. Are there similar efforts in other regions of the world?
Biomimicry in Existing Buildings. I've started having conversations about biomimicry in existing buildings with architects all across the country. This is a potentially amazing solution space that is relevant to all major developed cities across the globe. Beyond integrating biomimicry inspired products into interior fit-outs, how can we begin to emulate life in existing structures? How does nature reuse materials? How does nature adapt to changing conditions? How can our buildings evolve to survive? And what are natural models that can help guide our search? This is usually discussed in a metaphorical sense, but I am continually looking for tangible manefestations of this on individual existing buildings.
Systems Interaction. Finally (for now), there are many parallels to how the components of an ecosystem interact and how the components of a building interact. Systems are systems and I know there are exciting lessons to be learned in this space.

This is just the beginning and I welcome any and all thoughts from interested parties.

Interesting References (courtesy of Dayna Baumeister)
http://www.d3space.org/competitions/ (previous competitions, natural systems)
http://biomimetic-architecture.com

Upcoming Events!

2011-11-01T10:17:00.002-05:00

Come hear about Biomimicry at the next Foresight Green Drinks in Chicago!
November 16th at 5:30pm (panel starts around 6:30)! I'll be on a panel with Lindsay James of InterfaceFLOR and Colin Rohlfing of HOK, facilitated by Peter Nicholson - all Biomimicry Chicago core group members!

Biomimicry, the practice of learning from nature to solve human design problems, is emerging as a powerful tool for creating more sustainable solutions. Applied at a variety of scales, from individual products to buildings to organizations, biomimcry brings nature's 3.8 billion years of innovation experience to the design table. This month's panel examines this quickly evolving practice, reviewing what it is, how it is being applied, the tangible advancements it has already produced, and the powerful potential for the future. Of specific interest to designers, architects, entrepreneurs, biologists, and related others, the conversation will be wide ranging and inspiring to anyone with a concern for a more vibrant and resilient future. Come learn more about this exciting field, and the new emerging network, Biomimicry Chicago.

And if you are out in the Northeast Illinois region, check out a CEU level presentation I'll be giving on Biomimicry for the AIA NEI Committee on the Environment. November 10th at Wight & Co in Darien, IL.

Nature is inherently sustainable and has been for over 3.8 billion years. While we have been designing our world on a mass scale for approximately 200 years, our evolutionary elders have found a way to fit in on this planet for millennia. Perhaps they have something to teach us? The emerging practice of biomimicry brings nature’s problem solving solutions to the design table by studying the processes, products, and performance of life on earth and translating their lessons into the language of design.

Pecha Kucha this Thursday!

2011-10-11T23:40:00.001-05:00

Ryerson Woods Pecha Kucha this Thursday! Lindsay James and I are talking biomimicry. Check out this invite for more information.

PechaKucha on Green Design!

2011-10-05T10:16:00.000-05:00

I will be speaking at a Pecha Kucha with Lindsay James, BPCP Candidate and Director of Sustainability at InterfaceFLOR in Chicago next Thursday, October 13th at 7:30pm. Come learn about biomimicry in this fast-paced forum - 20 slides x 20 seconds each! Press release after the cut:

Friends of Ryerson Woods is pleased to announce

A Mini Lecture Series on Green Design

Inspired by the Japanese PechaKucha

LAKE COUNTY, IL, October 3,2011 – Friends of Ryerson Woods will host an unusual and fascinating event inspired by the Japanese PechaKucha trend on Thursday, October 13, 2011 from 7:30 to 9:00 pm. This one-night-only, mini lecture series will explore the exciting work in green design currently happening in our region.

Inspired by the PechaKucha (Japanese for "chit chat") trend that is generating buzz in hundreds of cities around the world, this evening will feature 10 exciting and dynamic speakers from a variety of fields whose work in the greater Chicago area involves environmentally conscious design. The idea is simple: 20 images x 20 seconds. Because no speaker will have more than 6.6 minutes, presentations will be fast-paced and dynamic, creating an atmosphere of excitement and possibility.

Presentations will include designs for the Bloomingdale Trail (Chicago’s version of New York City’s “High Line”), Prairie Crossing Charter School’s bold new vision for a curriculum integrated with nature, the elegant simplicity of Strand Design’s “unique objects for sustainable living,” and the styles of Frei Design’s Annie Novotney—the Chicago Reader’s Best Fashion Designer in Chicago 2011.

Designers and artists participating in PechaKucha:

Christina Bader of Farr Associates, the firm described by the New York Times as, “the most prominent of the city’s growing cadre of ecologically sensitive architects”
Ted and Sharon Burdett of Strand Design, who create locally made and beautifully designed products from salvaged lumber, urban lumber, locally manufactured materials and re-purposed materials
Crystal Grover of Windows by Indo, which centers its remarkable window installations around found objects in an attempt to rejuvenate the character of the old and worn
Sage Morgan-Hubbard, independent teaching artist, activist, poet, performer and consultant, currently working with Young Chicago Authors’ Youth Poetry Slam, "Louder Than a Bomb"
Hana Ishikawa of Site Design, who designs dazzling and sustainable urban landscapes such as Mary Bartelme Park, a new iconic park in the West Loop with many innovative features new to Chicago
Amy Coffman Phillips of Liquid Triangle Sustainability, an expert on “biomimicry,” or design that draws innovative solutions from nature, and Lindsay James of InterfaceFLOR, who studies ways to harness the economic system to improve our natural systems
Jenny Kendler and Molly Schafer of the Endangered Species Print Project, where 100% of the proceeds from ESPP's limited-edition prints support the critically endangered species they depict—and editions are limited to the species' remaining population count
Annie Novotny of Frei Design, award-winning clothing designer, performance artist, and educator at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago
Beth White and Diane Davis of the Trust for Public Land, working to convert an under-used freight railroad embankment into a multi-use trail and linear park
Nigel Whittington of Prairie Crossing Charter School, a public school working to transform children through academic discovery and interaction with natural, ecological, and community resources

The Mini Lectures event is part of the GREEN DESIGN series of public programs at Ryerson Woods. The series seeks to promote a broader understanding of sustainable design and art-making practices across many disciplines. Programs include lectures, workshops, art exhibitions, building tours, and film screenings that will run throughout 2011.

The event will take place in the Ryerson Woods Welcome Center, a Plantinum LEED-certified building designed by architect Bill Sturm. The Welcome Center employs a number of sustainable strategies, from materials choices to the use of natural light, geothermal heating and cooling, and recycled rainwater—in short, the perfect place to host an event devoted to green design in Chicago.

Key Information

WHAT: Mini Lecture Series on Green Design

WHEN: Thursday, October 13, 2011, from 7:30pm-9:00pm.

WHERE: The Welcome Center at Ryerson Woods. Ryerson Woods is located on Riverwoods Road, between Half Day Road (Route 22) and Deerfield Road near Deerfield. Follow signs for Brushwood once you enter the front gate.

COST: $10. No registration required.

FOR MORE INFORMATION: Call Ryerson Woods at 847.968.3321 or visit us on the web at www.ryersonwoods.org.

Ryerson Woods

Ryerson Woods is an oasis of 556 acres of magnificent woodlands in the heart of densely populated Lake County. Set in Deerfield, Ryerson Woods is one of Illinois’ premiere natural and architecturally significant areas. A Lake County Forest Preserve, it is listed as a Historic District by the National Register of Historic Places and is also part of the Illinois Nature Preserve System, a designation given only to the most ecologically significant natural areas in the state. Over 100,000 people visit Ryerson Woods each year to attend an education program, walk, bird watch and enjoy the quiet of nature.

Friends of Ryerson Woods

Through innovative arts programs presented against a backdrop of stately woods where pre-settlement flora and fauna still linger, Friends of Ryerson Woods seeks to build an environmentally literate constituency. Friends of Ryerson Woods is a not-for-profit organization that uses the unique setting of Ryerson Woods to catalyze people’s understanding, life-long appreciation, and behavior in support of nature.

Biomimicry as a Wordle

2011-10-03T09:33:00.000-05:00

biomimicry wordle created by wordle.net with modified text from wikipedia

Structure of a Spider Web

2011-09-14T11:18:00.000-05:00

It is a well known biomimicry meme that ounce for ounce, spider silk is stronger than steel or Kevlar. But what is it about the structure of a spider silk that makes it so strong? Is it the nano scale makeup of the silk? Is it the pattern? Do the patterns indicate function? Over the summer, I've collected a couple images of spider webs as I've seen them and tried to learn a little more about what makes them so special and how we can learn from them.

Spiral orb web in the forest

I started by taking a walk in the forest preserve near my house. Quite quickly I came upon the most ratty looking, massive spider web I'd ever seen. It looked like something out of a haunted house movie - spiral, torn, and at the center was a huge spider. As soon as I walked through the brush to get a closer look, the spider took off thinking it should be afraid of me (the feeling was mutual).

It's about Scale

The first thing I learned about spider web construction is that it is modular based on the size of the spider - the larger the spider, the larger the gaps between the threads for the simple fact that the spider must walk on it without getting stuck in its own web. In fact, the scale of the space between the sticky threads that catch prey is directly proportional to the space from the tip of its back leg to its spinner.

This makes me think of the whole idea of "human scale" in architecture, which of course varies. Frank Lloyd Wright designed homes for men of smaller stature, such as himself, so that when a taller person such as me walks through a home he designed, I feel like a giant. The difference is mere inches, but it is noticeable. Cathedrals were designed in direction opposition to the idea of human scale - they were designed to overwhelm the humans that entered them in order to convey the greatness of their god. But the spaces where we feel most comfortable are the ones that have been designed down to the detail with our proportions in mind.

It's about Building from the Bottom Up

A spider web is built in layers, building from the bottom up. It starts spinning the web by casting a thin thread that can blow in the wind and when it catches on something, the spider begins to reinforce it with additional threads until it is strong enough to walk on. This built-up silk becomes the major structure for the web and the silk is called Ampullate (Major). The spider then begins constructing the radials, closely spaced so that it can walk between each. After spinning the radials, it begins to reinforce the center and then spiral from the inside out with largely spaced non-sticky circular threads, like scaffolding, called Ampullate (Minor). It then works outside in, to replace this scaffolding with more closely spaced, sticky adhesive threads, called Flagelliform. Another type of silk, called Piriform, forms bonds between attachment points and other types of silk capture prey and protect eggs. Each type of silk is optimized at the molecular level for its function.

Sketch diagram of a spiral orb web outside my home - attached to my house!

Buildings are constructed in much the same way - scaffolding and structure are completed first and then the function of the building is layered on top of the structure, but the materials we make our buildings out of do not always emulate this process. One of my instructors quoted an executive at a carpet company in saying that nature builds a leaf from the cellular level; if humans were to build a leaf we would start with a large sheet and cut smaller leaves out of it. If we want to truly emulate nature's construction process, we need to begin constructing things from the nano scale on up instead of cutting them down from larger pieces.

It's about Life Friendly Chemistry

Spider silk is comprised of amino acids and protein crystals that are made from a mixture of water and chopped up gnats and flies and from this soup, it is the combination of these two types of materials that produces a material that is stretchy, but still stiff and strong. Additionally, the properties of the silk change based on how they are spun through the spinnerette while using the same chemical base. When the spider is done with the web, it eats it so that the proteins and acids can be used again and again. Imagine if the materials we create were as multi-functional and reusable while maintaining its function as spider silk is?

It's about Location

An orb web is a two dimensional surface constructed radially that vibrates when prey is caught to alert the visually challenged spiders to its food. The pattern itself is a result of how it is constructed, but its location is indicitive of its function - to catch flying insects as they fly between objects. So optimizing the location of where we build will help us maintain the function we need while minimizing energy and material use.

Huge spider web outside my house - it was gone a few days later, however, so I suppose the spider has something to learn about resilience and choosing a more appropriate location and scale for its web.

What I take away when learning from a spider web is that location, scale, building in layers, and using multi-functional, reusable materials can help us design structures that are more in keeping with nature's Life's Principles.

References:

Wikipedia article on spider webs
Wikipedia article on spider silk
Some pest site with good spider information
Dayna Baumeister lecture on Life's Principle to use "Life Friendly Chemistry." BPCP course.

Life in and Around a Tree

2011-09-13T10:56:00.000-05:00

We sometimes think of trees as solitary objects - lone specimens standing in a field of green. Or we think of them in clusters of a forest, one indistinguishable from another. But trees, like everything else, are interconnected and linked with all life around them. I thought about this when looking at the tree in my backyard yesterday. What life does this tree support along its vertical axis? And what relationships do these life forms have with each other? What can we learn from these connections?

The pride of my backyard - our Norway Maple

Our Norway Maple was planted well over 50 years ago, and is large and established, much like most of the trees in my downtown neighborhood. This type of tree, however, is considered to be an invasive species because it sends off thousands of little "helicopter" seeds, sometimes a couple times in a season, that create tiny little trees everywhere you look. Its leaves are also so complete as to shade everything below it and its roots are so dense and shallow such that very little else can grow among them. For these reasons, and the fact that it was planted underneath an elevated power line, I'm not sure it was the best selection that the former land owners could have made, but I love it just the same.

I love that my house was designed on axis with the tree so that as soon as you walk in my front door, you see the tree centered in the back. I love that it shades the back part of my yard so completely that you can lie in the grass in 90 degree weather and feel cool. I love that my daughter's playhouse never sees the sun and is always cool for her to play in. And I love all the critters it attracts to my garden - even the chipmunks which eat every last strawberry I plant. Well, maybe not the chipmunks. What other life does my maple support?

Let's look a little closer.

Sketching the life found around a tree

The soil connects the organisms below ground to those on the ground.
This seems painfully obvious, but think about it: soil is the ultimate multi-tasker. It provides structure so that plants can root themselves and reach up into the air for the energy and nutrients it needs. It provides nutrients, through plant decomposition thanks to soil microflora and worms, that aren't available in the air. It holds water so that plants have reserves during times of drought. It creates air gaps that allow roots to breathe. It shelters micorrhizal fungi networks to share nutrients. Over time, the roots of the hostas, ferns, and ground covers I planted have interlinked with the roots of our maple tree: they are now connected and dependent on each other and the structure of the soil allows the tree to reach up into the air.

The air connects the organisms on the ground to those above.
Among the plants, live wasps, bees, gnats, flies, and spiders that fly thought the air looking for their own nutrients. The wasps and bees are looking for pollen from the flowers. I wish I knew what drew the gnats, flies, and mosquitos to my yard, but I'm grateful for the spiders that try to catch and eat them. If only something would eat the Japanese beetles that punch holes in the leaves of some plants. If only. The birds live in the trees and eat the flying insects. Birds also drop their waste on the ground, which feeds nutrients back into the soil, starting the cycle anew.

A tree bridges all three realms: soil, ground, and sky.
The tree is special in this tiny microcosm of an ecosystem - it bridges all three realms. The tree's roots gain structure and nutrients from the soil, its trunk reaches high above the other plants, and its branches and leaves capture sun and nutrients high above everything else. Its branches provide shelter for birds and tree squirrels. Its bark provide structure for tiny lichen to live and get nutrients from the air and water from the bark's surface. Its seeds provide nutrients for squirrels, birds and chipmunks. It's leaves return nutrients back to the soil and its inhabitants every fall. Even the verticillium wilt that will one day kill my beloved tree will only return its nutrients back to the soil to start anew. This fact is sad for me, but it is also beautiful in the larger scheme of things. The symmetry is beautiful and balanced. There is no waste. And...

Everything is connected.
I love thinking about and studying the interconnections of life in hopes that I may one day understand them enough to emulate them into our built systems - be they economic systems, societal systems, or building systems.

Studying a Flower - the Plumeless Thistle

2011-09-12T00:31:00.000-05:00

Here is the problem with a novice naturalist walking through a restored prairie and seeing pretty flowers - I assume they all should be there! It turns out that the pretty pinkish purple flowers I saw on a walk I did way back in July (how summer flew by!) were actually Plumeless Thistle, an invasive weed, and it was everywhere, at least near the walking path I was on.

One invasive species on another - a Japanese beetle on a Plumeless Thistle bud. From Prairie Flowers in July.

While walking through the prairie on bright July day, I wanted to observe the prairie species mix to see if I would find any patterns. The main pattern I found was centered around water availability. The highlands where there was no standing water found home for yellow coneflower, wild carrot, thistle, some milkweed, and turf grass gone to seed. The lower areas where the creek ran through hosted cattails, grass, a spiky purple plant that looks like salvia, and some strange broadleaf species that seemed like it would be more at home on the forest floor. Near the paths in higher elevations, I was taken by a pretty purple flower that I found and thought I could learn a little more about it.

Studying the thistle, by Amy.

The Springbrook Prairie that I visit has paths that are paved on the ground with mowed areas to each side, so this disturbed area is ripe for an opportunistic invader such as the thistle to propagate. The next time I visit the prairie, I will try to see if the species is prevalent even at the inaccessible areas that do not have walking paths, but I would guess not as much. The thistle invader is a problem for native grasses because it shades them and competes for resources. A little bit of natural history - thistle seeds are wind dispersed, much like a dandelion. This type of thistle is prevalent in Northern Illinois but not at all in Southern Illinois, so it seems to be highly susceptible to heat variation because the differences between these two areas in terms of temperature is typically only 10 degrees Fahrenheit.

It may be invasive, but it is beautiful. From Prairie Flowers in July

The thistle has a defense strategy that involved adapting its leaves to create thorns - everywhere. There are thorns all around the bud, thorns on the stem, and even thorns on the end of each leaf lobe. And they are sharp, so of course no animal wants to eat them and no human wants to pull them. So they survive long enough to set seed, and the seed dispersion mechanism is strikingly similar to the dandelion. In fact, except for the thorns, size, and color differences, the two plants are very similar - likely because they belong to the same Asteraceae family. Seeds are tiny and dispersed with the help of thin threads that fan out to form a thick fuzz, ripe for catching the wind. Seed germination is said to be 95%, each plant is capable of producing 10,000 seeds, and they can persist in the soil for 10-20 years. But the thistle does not do well in established, intact ecosystems. So perhaps the prairie can survive it at the fringes and be better able to combat it in the less accessible areas. In case you're curious, late spring burns with routine cutting and pulling throughout the growing season works best to control the thistle in restored prairie ecosystems.

Resources:

Invasive Species - Plumeless Thistle, Wisconsin DNR

Illinois Natural History Survey, UIUC

Local Biomimicry

2011-09-08T11:07:00.001-05:00

As a part of my coursework on Biomimicry's Life's Principle to "Be Locally Attuned and Responsive," I wrote an informal white paper on the intersection of Biomimicry and the Transition Town network using my town of Naperville, Illinois, as a case study. I posed the question,

"What would Naperville look like if it followed the biomimicry principle to be ‘locally attuned and responsive’ in all of its (re)designs?"

This fits in with our theme for the year at Greendrinks Naperville of local resilience in the face of peak oil and was written to further this discussion. If you have time to spare and care to read and comment, I would love to hear your thoughts. Read my paper "Local Biomimicry" here.

Biomimicry at Greendrinks Naperville!

2011-08-24T14:57:00.001-05:00

Amy is bringing biomimicry to the western suburbs of Chicago at the next Greendrinks Naperville. Come here what biomimicry is all about and how you can use it to inspire sustainable design!

Wednesday, August 31st, 7pm at Sugar Toad in the Hotel Arista.

Sustainability Wordle

2011-08-12T09:47:00.001-05:00

Just a fun graphic of the words that we use to define sustainability, courtesy of wordle.net and wikipedia.org.

Learning from Carpenter Ants

2011-08-11T14:44:00.009-05:00

Carpenter Ant Colony in a Bounce House

In honor of my biology professor, Adrian Smith, who has devoted his career to studying ants, I chose to learn a little bit about the carpenter ants which until this morning and without my knowledge had built a small colony in my kid's rolled up bounce house.

I have no idea why a colony of carpenter ants would chose to build a satellite community in a rolled up bit of plastic fabric. It must have been dark and slightly damp and that must have been enough. It was a poor choice on her behalf. After the destruction of their nest, the ants were obviously very erratic and grabbed their rice shaped pupae, or egg sacks, and scattered in the grass. I watched them for a while, trying to determine if they had any idea where they were going, but they just seemed to be running for cover. Within minutes, each and every egg sack had been picked up and was being carried by an ant in its pincers and within a few minutes, very few pupae were visible. Ants in general are very good at concealing themselves to avoid predation, so it is difficult to follow ants in grass and see where they go.

They have a colony structure similar to other ants where a mated queen searches for a new home (my rolled up bouncer) and lays eggs that are both workers and queens. Unmated queens can produce only males. Carpenter ants do not actually eat wood. They can't eat solid food because their esophagus is too long and narrow. So, they gather aphid honeydew and tree sap and they love human food, which is probably what drew them to the bounce house. They still damage wood, however, by hollowing it out to create their nests, hence their name. They also have a symbiotic bacteria that biosynthesizes amino acids and other nutrients and plays some role in its nutrition.

I captured one ant and one egg sack during the scattering and used it to identify the ants as carpenter ants by its bent antennae and the shape of the pupae. The confined ant moves in an interesting way, using its antennae to feel around and its two front legs to try and dig through the plastic container I had placed it in. The other back four legs are spread out to stabilize its movement. I did see the ant pick up two of its four back side legs and shake them while upside down with only two side legs to hold it in place - impressive acrobatics. The confined ant is very protective of the pupae and when it isn't carrying it around, it is resting on top of it protectively. My research indicated that worker ants are required for the new adults to emerge from the pupae - they can't do it on their own. And for that reason the mother in me can't let the ant die in captivity. As much as I'd like to keep an example of this ant, I'm going to have to let it go. I don't want an ant farm in my house and I can't be responsible for its death. Amazing creatures - as long as they stay out of my house and it's wood.

More photos here.

Research:
Gardening in Western Washington
Wikipedia

Being Present

2011-08-11T00:13:00.004-05:00

Photo by Amy Coffman Phillips.

Have you ever tried to just sit and be still for 25 minutes? Without thinking about anything in particular? Or without really moving? Well, I tried. And it's hard. On a recent trip to the Springbrook Prairie Preserve I completed a BPCP iSite where I was to "Sit and Be Here." Being present is so hard to do, especially for someone so used to multi-tasking. Sitting still and observing is a form of meditation, and I found it extremely relaxing but also irritating.

It felt relaxing because I was alone, my children were being cared for by our babysitter, and I had the luxury to just sit down and look at a field of green and yellow prairie flowers. That experience alone made the time worthwhile. But the multi-tasker in me wanted to be doing something else at the same time - walking or running so that it would count as my exercise for the day; naming the grasses, birds, and bugs I see and remembering the ones I couldn't name; thinking about what I see and practicing my biomimicry translation skills... I find it almost impossible to turn off the part of my brain that tells me what I am doing now is not as important as what I should or could be doing.

After "quieting my cleverness," I came away from the experience with a feeling of vitality, both of the prairie and in myself. The prairie looks like plain grassland to many people, but by sitting down and just observing I know that this place is alive in ways I never imagined. I saw a black crow perched on top of a grass swaying in the wind. I heard bugs buzz by my ear and saw butterflies, moths, and dragonflies - and a few mosquitoes. I heard the grass rustle against each other and I saw critters scatter. Hundreds of species call that patch of grassland home and by sitting down to observe them, I became a part of that system. I felt renewed and connected to something much larger than myself. And it felt great. I will continue to return to the prairie and other environments and I will practice my skills of sitting and being fully present. I hope that one day I will be able to accomplish the task.

Reading the Sky

2011-08-10T23:33:00.003-05:00

Photo by Amy Coffman Phillips

How much of fifth grade science can you remember? What are the different cloud types called? My knowledge was tested today on the most gorgeous day we've had in months when I was lucky enough to be at the Morton Arboretum with my friend and our kids. The children's garden was complete chaos with every child in the five surrounding communities all congregating there for the day, so we decided to climb a little hill and sit and watch the clouds. I have fond memories of staring at the clouds on a pretty day and trying to guess what shape they were making. My daughter humored me a bit in between trips running up and down the hill and found a snake that the cirrus clouds created (I thought it looked like a spine). My friend found a stingray made of puffy cumulus clouds. And I seemed to find mostly fish of different sizes and shapes, a group of cumulus clouds that looked like airplanes flying low, and one space ship. A psychologist has probably developed a way to analyze what we see in clouds as some type of Warshak test, but I prefer to leave that at the surface.

I remember learning about cloud types when I was in school and most of the names have stuck with me. But I found this handy chart on the web as a reference.

Image courtesy eo.ucar.edu

Reading the sky helps us understand the weather now and in the coming hours. Today, most of the clouds were low cumulus type with a few wispy cirrus clouds much higher. I could tell by looking at the sky that there was no chance of rain today. I think of this day in contrast to the day I was on the prairie as a summer storm rolled in. On that day, we could see the dark underside of the cumulonimbus clouds as they approached. We could see the rain falling on distant fields. But what we couldn't see as the storm approached was how fast it was moving. It seemed like one moment the storm was still miles away and the next moment it was on top of us as we laughed and ran to our car. It was powerful and beautiful and an experience that I would love to have again some day.

Photo by Felicia Akman

I think that judging the weather by the clouds is something primal - something we learn early on, if my 4 year old daughter is any indication. But with today's technology and smart phones, I find myself checking the weather on my phone before I even look outside, mostly because i'm looking for the highs/lows and chance for rain but also because I've become so reliant on the thing that I can't remember how I managed without it. I wonder how this will be for my kids? For their kids? Will we still learn to read the sky or will we rely on more and more sophisticated technology to do it for us with better accuracy? It is my hope that the technologies we invent will only serve to enhance our experience of the natural world.

Entry completed for BPCP iSite request to "read the sky."

Pictures on the Prairie

2011-07-23T16:46:00.002-05:00

IMG_8319, originally uploaded by dgphilli.

My friend Felicia Akman took pictures of my kids at the Springbrook Prairie Preserve in the minutes before a powerful summer storm blew through. The effect in the photos was striking, and it was an amazing experience to feel the storm as it passed over us - and as we ran for cover.

July's Prairie Flowers as Design Inspiration

2011-07-19T00:11:00.002-05:00

Today was a beautiful sunny day for a bike ride through the Springbrook Prairie Forest Preserve. It was hot today. Very hot. But the flowers in the prairie were in full bloom, and I was curious about the plants I found there. What are their names? Where do they grow and why? Is there anything we can we learn from them that could influence design? To try and answer these questions, I took a collection (which doubles as an interesting wildflower arrangement) and have attempted to classify a few of the flowers I picked. I did a little research on the natural history of each and then have extrapolated a few questions as to how each plant may inspire design. What questions do you think the plant could help us answer?

Purple Coneflowers (Echinacea)

Aster (Daisy) family (Asteraceae)

Natural History: This plant, while native to Illinois, is not that common in native habitats. In fact, most of the plants that grow in the wild are escaped cultivars or as a result of prairie restoration efforts. On my ride, there were only small clusters or small groups of individuals but I was determined to collect a few for my daughter, who loves pink flowers. It has only a faint smell. The stem is strong and rigid and the seed head is heavy. The petals are smooth on top, rough on bottom, and damaged with black spots from insect or impact damage. The top of the flower head is a collection of small spines, which is why it was named after the latin name for "hedgehog." The spines are packed closely in the Fibonacci spiral formation, which allows for radiating growth.

Biomimicry Inspiration: I wonder what a seating arrangement in a restaurant, theater in the round, or other establishment where many people must be placed would look like if we tried to emulate this radiating pattern? Would its allowance for growth allow the seating arrangement to grow and contract as needed depending on how many people need to be seated? Would this pattern be relevant to temporary disaster shelter camps as well?

Queen Anne's Lace or Wild Carrot (Daucus carota)

Umbellifer family (Apiaceae)

Natural History: I grew up in Southern Illinois and was not as familiar with this plant as my husband, who grew up near Chicago and said this plant was growing everywhere near his childhood home. It is not native to this area, but has become naturalized and bares a striking resemblance to poison hemlock. If you are certain that it is not hemlock, wild carrot's root is edible to consume and a teaspoon of crushed seeds has been used as a folk remedy for birth control because of the plant's estrogenic properties. It is also a beneficial weed and used as companion plant to attract beneficial insects, boost tomato yield, or as shade for lettuce. As is its cousin, dill, to which it bears a remarkable resemblance. I am going to remember that for next year! At the end of the growing season, the seed head at top breaks off and becomes a tumbleweed, spreading its seed where the wind takes it.

Biomimicry Inspiration: I would love to know more about the chemical properties of companion plants that cause increased yield as this could be very beneficial to the agriculture industry. Wouldn't it be wonderful if industrialized agriculture could move beyond mined phosphorus and synthetic fossil fuel fertilizers in favor of water-based chemistry that emulates the chemical properties of a crop's natural companion? I am also intrigued by how the structure of the large scale flower is similar if not identical to the structure of each of its florettes. What you see when looking at the details is similar to what you see when looking at the big picture. This could serve as inspiration for modular components comprising a larger whole.

Prairie Milkweed (Asclepias sullivantii)

Milkweed family (Asclepiadaceae)

Natural History: I almost didn't get a sample of this plant because every one I saw was literally covered in bees and butterflies. In fact, planting this plant in your garden will attract the Monarch butterfly as it is the preferred food for its caterpillar. The plant stands tall and erect, drawing much attention to itself when compared to the surrounding flora. But when I went to break off a flower head, it was very obvious how the plant got its name. The sap, which resembles very sticky white Elmer's glue flows freely from the stem and makes your hands quite sticky for some time. It must not taste good either, as mammals avoid this plant.

Biomimicry Inspiration: What are the chemical properties of the sap? What it is that mammals find distasteful to eat and would this information be relevant to chemical companies selling products to keep deer and other mammals away from gardens? What are the chemical properties that make this water-based substance so sticky and would it be relevant to designers of glues and adhesives? When the sap dries, it isn't as sticky anymore. What are potential applications for temporary adhesives?

I classified a few more flowers after my bike ride, but it is not always easy to find enough natural history information about a plant in order to extrapolate their function, which is necessary in the practice of biomimicry. I hope to continue to look to the prairie and the great lakes, one day in partnership with our local research institutions, to further our natural history knowledge of local flora and fauna and understand how our native organisms and ecosystems function. This knowledge will allow us to design products and places that are truly attuned to our local region.

I fell for this tree

2011-07-13T00:19:00.004-05:00

I went for a walk in the Morton Arboretum today, looking at tree bark. Yes, tree bark. For my biomimicry coursework, I have certain prescribed iSite assignments where I go out and observe nature. One of them included looking at tree bark and the differences between different species. This was on my mind after a conversation I had with Dr. Robert Fahey, a forest ecologist on staff at the Arboretum, about tree bark and its (marginal) insulative values. He spoke about Oak forests and how the rough bark fissures that Oak trees present actually create air pockets that help insulate the tree from fire and extreme cold. It's cork-like texture also traps air pockets, adding insulation. He was quick to mention that the cell structure of the live phloem has more to do with a tree surviving cold than the dead bark, but it was an intriguing idea for me and I resolved to contact a plant physiologist soon. Dr. Fahey spoke about the the chemistry of bark and how some species create chemicals in their bark that protect the tree from predators.

Sketches from conversation with Dr. Fahey

But back to this tree that I love. The species is called Katsura (cercidiphyllum japonicum - another reason why I love the Arb: every tree is labeled!). The structure of this particular tree reminds me of Fred and Ginger, Frank Gehry's Dancing House in Prague, or dancing lovers the way the trunk splits off and intertwines. The bark of the tree dances in a pattern that weaves back and forth, overlapping and forming a gorgeous pattern so unlike any other tree I saw today. And the heart-shaped leaves grow in clumps like a Quaking Aspen or a Redbud. Simply beautiful. Ok, so I'm a tree hugger. Everyone knew that already.

Katsura bark pattern

Tree bark, compared:
(Blogger REALLY needs a table function or I need to figure out a way to hack one.)

American Elm

The American Elm is a gorgeous tree. No doubt about it. It's branching structure that resembles a vase of flowers make it easily recognizable. So is its bark. The ridges, while they sway and flow with the tree, are linear and deep, likely to channel water down to the base of the tree. The texture is rough to the touch.

Weeping European Beech

The Beech tree is the opposite of the rough Elm. It is smooth and flat with no ridges except for imperfections and scars.

Chestnut Oak

The Oak tree bark is not linear like the Elm nor smooth like the Beech. It is rough and clumped and reminds me of the dry skin called "cradle cap" that formed on my newborn son's head.

Maple

The Maple tree is close to my heart because I have a beautiful old maple tree as the centerpiece of my back yard. The bark is not as rough or deeply fissured as the oak and lichen are able to grow over its ridges. I wonder what it is about the chemistry of the Maple bark that allows this plant to thrive on it? It must be more than a structural reason because the smooth beech didn't have lichen growing on it.

I took many more photos of different trees, but I'm overwhelmed with bark right now and am stopping. I may go back in the future and do bark rubbings to see if I have missed any observations that they could provide.

Walking the Woods with Kids

2011-06-27T22:29:00.004-05:00

2011-06-26 17.06.36, originally uploaded by dgphilli.

I went on a hike with my husband and two young kids through Starved Rock State Park in Northern Illinois this weekend. The park is a series of canyons that were formed when the glaciers melted, forming a series of rock walls, 50' + waterfalls and sand basins from disintegrating sandstone. When I told my 4 year old daughter that we would be going on a hike to a sand mountain that they could climb, she was beyond excited. So excited, in fact, that she was so focused on getting there that she wasn't really able to enjoy the journey to our destination. Not surprising for a little kid.

In between questions of "are we there yet?", I pointed out tangled tree roots that could have been steps up the cliff, tiny shade flowers, butterflies that crossed our path, interesting moss and lichen, and anything else that I thought may interest her. Not so much. Sand mountain, please!

So when we finally got there - yay! My 2 year old son squealed and clapped as toddlers do when he saw the waterfall. To him, it must have looked like the largest shower ever! He also loved climbing the sand mountain (ok, hill) and scooting down on his backside. My daughter went to climbing right away and found a caterpillar crawling through the sand. She knew what it was and that it turned into a butterfly. She also knew to be careful with it and not step on it.

Walking back, we came upon a tiny little baby frog that blended in so well with the sand that the only way we knew it was there was when it jumped. We watched it jump across our path and back into the brush. My daughter asked "why is it so small?" When I told her it was a little kid, she said "because it was a tadpole before?" I must be doing something right because my 4yo has the curiosity and science knowledge of a grade school kid and my toddler son has amazing wonder and delight. I'm very proud of them and looking forward to many more walks in the woods.

Garden Gossip: Growing Season 2011 Kickoff

2011-06-07T23:44:00.001-05:00

I'm excited about my first entry of Garden Gossip for growing season 2011! Every year, I chronicle my little suburban garden on this blog, mostly for personal reasons so that I can remember what I did right (and wrong) the previous year. I'm not sure anyone else would find it interesting, but if you do, please read on.

To recap the last two years, I have removed about 1/3 of my backyard lawn in favor of an annual "square foot" vegetable garden and perennial planting beds for growing herbs, berries, and privacy ornamentals. The first year, I focused on making the garden beautiful in the classical French garden aesthetic with cute little useless fences that surrounded the pavers. Unfortunately, the bunnies thought the little fence was a joke and decimated most of what I grew. Same for last year, only worse - I think they told their friends. When I asked my fellow gardeners how they controlled the bunnies, they recommended a pellet gun. Ok, I don't like the rodents, but I don't want to kill them. So this year, I put up an ugly chicken wire fence. My garden isn't nearly as beautiful as last year, but so far it has kept the bunnies munching on my grass rather than my herbs. Success! Now I need to figure out what to do about the chipmunk that eats my strawberries just when they are ripe. Grr...

Other crazy stuff I'm trying this year: I am experimenting with "no till" growing this year. I don't even know if I'm doing it right, but I decided to only dig little holes for my seedlings rather than till up the soil structure that formed last year. And I've used the dried out ornamental grasses from last year as mulch. So far, this practice seems to have produced a lot of volunteer plants that set seed last year - specifically a lot of sage (that stuff grows like crazy) and parsley, but also a few volunteer pumpkins and tomatoes. How cool is that? I also read that dandelions are good for the soil and I knew they were edible, so I am not pulling them from my garden this year. That should be interesting. I grew cherry tomatoes and basil from seed with grow lights and transplanted them after the last frost. I sprinkled lettuce seed early in April, but since I also subscribe to the Green Earth Institute CSA, I have had more lettuce than I know what to do with and the lettuce has set seed already. Oops. Oh, and my composting is totally out of whack, but I know what I'm doing wrong (needs more newspaper, but haven't gotten around to shredding it yet).

My daughter has a little patch of garden set aside for her. I took her to the garden store and told her she could pick out what she wanted. You know what she picked? Flowers. Lots and lots of petunias in every shade of the rainbow. She also picked out pumpkin, watermelon, and strawberry plant. And I picked up some edamame and quinois seeds - that should be interesting. My babysitter asked me how I was going to harvest the quinois for eating - good question. I have no idea. I just thought the drawing was colorful and pretty, so we'll see how that goes.

So, here's to growing season 2011! I hope it is a productive one.

Want to learn more about teaching biomimicry?

2011-06-03T22:50:00.001-05:00

Then check out the 2011 Biomimicry Education Summit in Cleveland, Ohio - June 27-29. If you are in the Chicago region, email me for a promo code to save $150 off the registration. Click here to learn more.

Patterns in the Forest Floor

2011-05-19T07:25:00.001-05:00

Walking in the woods yesterday, I couldn't help but look down - mostly to make sure I didn't step on something that would throw me off balance and fall. And the forest floor is gorgeous - the random but uniform pattern of broad swatches of green and brown and the texture of the green moss intermixed with last year's dried grass is random but creates a uniform pattern. One of my cohort colleagues works for Interface carpet, and they have a line of carpet tiles called Entropy that is based on the forest floor, where nothing is uniform but the pattern that emerges is aesthetically attractive. This is especially important when dealing with construction materials. By creating a design of seemingly random patterns, tiles can be placed in any order and replaced as needed. This reduces construction waste and gives a longer life to the floor covering itself.

The Art of Systems Thinking

2011-05-19T07:10:00.001-05:00

Creating Shelter in the Forest

We are learning about systems thinking this week during my biomimicry intensive at the Harvard Forest, so one of our exercises was to go out into the forest and create a piece of art with nature using systems thinking. The architect in me came upon a collection of downed tree limbs and I instantly wanted to build a fort. I thought about how animals create their own shelter using local dead things. Perhaps most interestingly, they follow certain rules of thumb to make sure the structure is stable, but the overall design emerges based on the characteristics of the material. So that is what I attempted to do here - create shelter using found objects. I found three live trees that I used as columns, added large felled limbs to the sides and placed medium sized limbs on top as a roof. The smallest limbs were used as a floor. Had I had more time than 45 minutes, I would have spent more time on the overall aesthetic, but it was fun to get outside and create something fun.

Genius of Place: Lichen in a New England Forest

2011-05-16T16:54:00.011-05:00

Lichen are plants and fungus that create a mutualistic relationship greater than the sum of their parts. What can we learn from them?

Common Greenshield Lichen. Flavoparmelia Caperata. Photo by Amy Coffman Phillips

Natural History
How does the lichen fit into this forest?

Walking through the forest for my first iSite in the Harvard Forest, I came upon this beautiful lichen growing on a red maple tree. Up close, it looks like flattened lettuce or cabbage growing in these romantic formations, an example of a foliose (leaf like) lichen. And lichen is unique because it is not one organism, but a symbiotic relationship between two organisms: fungi and algae. To form a lichen, the fungus either encloses the algae in fungal tissue or penetrates the algal cell wall in order to harness their photosynthetic abilities. The fungi form the structure and then recruit algae to come live with them, and the algae benefits from the protection the fungi provide as well as their ability to capture water and nutrients. The mutualistic relationship between these two organisms (although sometimes commensalistic or even parasitic depending on the species) is greater than the sum of its parts because it allows both organisms to survive and thrive in areas they would not be able to alone. Their relationship creates benefits for the ecosystem as a whole as well because as rain water falls down the bark of a tree, it gathers nutrients from the lichen which feeds nitrogen and other nutrients to the soil, and then by extension, the tree and other plants.

Lichen exist in most every ecosystem on the planet from arctic tundra to deserts. While they have adapted to many different climates and conditions, they are also sensitive to environmental disturbances, such as air pollution because they are not deciduous and absorb nutrients from the atmosphere, rain and dust rather than roots. For these reasons, they are bioindicator species for air quality as well as ozone depletion and metal contamination.

Lichen also grow in unique structures, different than those that fungi or algae use alone. They are built in layers. The outer layer is a conglomeration of fungal cells that form a protective cortex. Below this layer is a layer of algae embedded in a densely woven layer of fungal hyphae or the long branching structures of fungi,. Below this layer, the third layer is comprised of densely woven fungal hyphae without the algae, called the medulla. The fourth and bottom layer is called the lower cortex and resembles the top layer and is also composed of densely packed fungal hyphae and rootlike rhizines which attach the lichen composite to the structure on which it grows. Because these roots are for structural stability and not nutrient gathering, lichen have the ability to grow on surfaces that other organisms cannot, such as tree bark and bare rocks.
Different types of lichen reproduce in different ways, typically asexually through spores but vegetative and even sexual reproduction occurs in different species. In the case of this lichen, it is similar to an isidia in that it sends up shoots that break off for mechanical dispersal of genetic information. Lichen are able to desiccate and survive long periods with very little water, entering into a state of suspended animation, ready to rehydrate when water becomes available. This ability allows them to survive long periods of temperature extremes, radiation, and drought in harsh environments.

Strategies/Mechanisms

What are the deep patterns we can take away from the lichen?

Mutualistic communities of organisms create conditions that are better for themselves as well as the organisms around them, and this symbiosis allows them to withstand conditions together that they would not be able to alone.
The fungi develop the structure on which the algae grow. Fungi create a densely woven structure of tiny branches that embed and encapsulate the algae in order to harness their photosynthetic abilities. The organism bodily structures of each organism change in order to accommodate their partner, and they cannot survive alone.
Lichen absorb nutrients from the air and water through their cell walls. When environmental disturbances occur, the algae absorbs these contaminates molecularly and is destroyed, killing the lichen composite. For this reason, lichen are a good bioindicator species and signal environmental disturbances we cannot yet perceive.

Design Principles

How can these strategies naturally influence design innovation?

Empower individuals within an organization to collaborate and share resources in order to create restorative communities.
Encapsulate harmful substances in a membrane for safe storage at room temperature.
Grow fibers at the nano scale that will self-assemble into prescribed patterns.
Design smart materials that passively absorb air- or water-based compounds in order to indicate changes in the system.

Design Application Ideas

What are potential innovations that could result from this natural inspiration?

Store food at room temperature by encapsulating it in a tasteless, edible membrane that prevents spoilage.
Preserve vaccines at room temperature by encapsulating active ingredients in a dissolvable membrane.
Design passive air quality monitors that absorb harmful chemicals or pathogens and change color to indicate their presence.
Design water quality monitors that test for chemicals or pathogens by absorbing and changing color to indicate their presence.

Sources
Biomimicry Professional Certificate Program
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lichen

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flavoparmelia_caperata

Vernal Pond

2011-05-16T16:54:00.005-05:00

Vernal Pond at Harvard Forest

I am at the Harvard Forest in Petersham, Massachusetts, for my second Biomimicry session in the temperate deciduous forest and today we took a walk in the forest. To say I loved it would be an understatement, but I'm a forest lover. This is a picture of a vernal pond, or a pond that fills in the spring and then drains gradually. The Harvard School of Forestry took a sample core and was able to trace 9,000 years of history in this area from evidence that this Hemlock forest was once a Maple forest to evidence of Native American under story controlled burns. Probably most interestingly, because this is a seasonal pond and fish cannot live in it, there are no natural predators for amphibians such as frogs to lay their eggs here. Oh, and its gorgeous.

Wildflower on the Prairie

2011-05-12T12:00:00.000-05:00

wildflower at springbrook prairie, naperville, il

For the final iSite I needed to complete before my next biomimicry trip next week, I went to the Springbrook Prairie Preserve in Naperville, IL. I love walking through the prairie with my younger son while my daughter is at school, so I had to see what the prairie looks like in the spring. The prairie is coming alive. In areas that were burned, the ground is a carpet of green new growth. In the areas that weren't burned, dead sticks of last year's grass blow in the wind while short green blades and some yellow wildflowers grow up below. For this last iSite, I was to sketch an object using only shading without lines, and this was pretty difficult. I did use some lines because I can't every completely follow the rules, but I concentrated on the shading that the small leaves of the flower cast on the others. I am excited to have completed my iSites and am so looking forward to seeing my fellow cohort members in Boston!

Elevating the Lowly Dandelion

2011-05-09T00:26:00.008-05:00

Dandelion Sketch

Today my kids and I were walking around our neighborhood and started picking dandelions. I picked a bouquet for my daughter, Ellie, and gave my son Jake one that had ripened into a ball of white fuzz. My one year old son tried to blow the fuzz off of the stem, with a little success because most of it ended up on his lips. My four year old daughter and I sat down and started picking the yellow dandelions flowers apart. I had never spent much time actually looking at these ubiquitous wildflowers other than to pull them from my yard, but it was pretty fun to do it with a four year old.

We discovered that when the flowers are in bloom and yellow, they peel apart just as they do when they go to seed. The flower is actually made of many tiny florets that are yellow at the ends and white and fuzzy underneath. At the end of each floret is a tiny seed, small and undeveloped, until the dandelion matures into the fuzzy pappus so fun to make a wish and blow on. The stem of the parachute, called the beak, elongates as the flower matures into the fuzzy pappus, but it is still visible when the flower is yellow as is the fuzzy parachute. All of the necessary components for life and reproduction are present from the start, though immature.
We talked about how dandelions love patches of ground that have been disturbed, such as the grass and garden beds in our back yard, and we marveled at how they covered a lot near our house so the yard was a carpet of yellow. Their ability to quickly reproduce is a staggering achievement. We rubbed the yellow flowers on our hands to turn them yellow. And we looked at some of the dandelions that were closed and wondered if they were getting ready to open up as a ball of fuzz. Had I not been walking around with my kids today, I never would have known all of this about the lowly dandelion - which is actually a beneficial weed that is a good companion plant for gardening, adds minerals and nitrogen to soil, and attracts pollinating insects in addition to being completely edible. Think about that the next time you want to spray weed killer all over your lawn.

Dandelions Near My House

And this got me thinking about my biomimicry classes on Life's Principles. What LPs does the dandelion embody? What LPs are missing?

The dandelion is a clear example of fitting form to function (a sub-principle of the Be Resource Efficient Life Principle). The fuzzy white "parachute" pappus is a marvel of engineering - perfectly designed to catch the wind and disperse seeds over a wide area.

The dandelion plant Adapts to Changing Conditions and embodies resilience through redundancy on a massive scale, as the field of yellow near my house depicts, but it doesn't incorporate diversity or variation due to its self-cloning abilities. But it would seem that extreme redundancy is enough to keep the species alive despite hundreds of thousands of humans attempting to eradicate them.

The plant, of course, is Locally Attuned and Responsive. It uses readily available materials and energy, namely sunlight, water, and the minimal nutrients it receives from the soil. It has adapted a long tap root to bring up nutrients from well below the disturbed surface it colonizes, making it a first adapter species that makes the land more fertile and thereby, more attractive to a succession of species with more delicate sensibilities. I know from experience that this long tap root is impossible to pull, it needs to be dug up. In this way, other species form commensalistic relationships with the dandelion and cultivate cooperative relationships with it, but the dandelion sees little benefit to this relationship. It is a neutral party looking out for its own survival.

The dandelion, however, does not reshuffle information (a sub-principle of the Evolve to Survive LP). With a little research, I learned that they reproduce asexually and their offspring are genetically identical to themselves, which doesn't make sense when the plant goes to such trouble to produce a flower that attracts pollinators. They propagate their species and survive through mass production rather than adaptation.

After investigating, studying, reading, and now writing about the lowly dandelion, I have now decided to leave them alone in my garden. But I'll have to have a conversation with my husband about the yard.

McDowell Grove Forest Preserve

2011-05-05T22:40:00.004-05:00

Fallen Limbs at the Forest Preserve in Spring

I took a walk in the McDowell Grove Forest Preserve by my house today. I had never been to this area before and I'm so glad I visited for the first time in spring. There weren't any real flowers to speak of but the floor was a carpet of green. I know in a few months, I won't be able to walk through the fields like I did today because the grasses and under story brush will be too high.

There were fallen branches everywhere, creating a natural clearing. I don't know if it is normal for so many branches and trees to lie on the the forest floor or if there was some event that caused the branches to fall. One fallen log had a reddish moss growing on it but the majority did not. I wonder what was different about that log - the age, type of bark, moisture content of the wood? I'm guessing the latter, but I'd love to bring an ecologist to find out next time.

Pools of Algae from a Flooded River

As I walked a little further into the forest, I noticed that the adjacent DuPage River has been flooding into the forest floor. Flood stress over time could be what caused the the downed limbs and trees. The flood waters were interesting. In urban environments, we rarely get to witness how nature responds to floodwaters. At the flood's edge, pools of water with rippling centers and stagnant edges play host to algae. In the rippling water, the algae takes the form of thin filaments like threads flowing through the water. In the stagnant water, fluffy pillows of algae obscure the view below.

While on my walk, I started to think about how this environment responds to the life's principles I've been learning about in my class. The floodwaters made me think of the "Adapt to Changing Conditions" principle. Clearly the river floods repeatedly - likely almost every year. The trees in this area must have adapted themselves to this condition or they would not have survived. My tree classification skills are rusty, but I'm fairly confident that the tree mix was of elms, maples, and birch trees, among others. Each of these tree species are somewhat tolerant to flooding but a particularly prolonged flood would cause root die off, and consequently limb damage or tree death. This diversity of species will help the system maintain itself if one species is more susceptible to flood damage. But the loss of limbs also aids in the system renewing itself. The trees and limbs decay, host insects that return nutrients to the soil for new limbs and leaves to be created from the old. This continual self renewal allows the tree and the system to maintain its integrity.

More photos, just because it was fun to take my walk today. Next time, I will bring a better camera than my iphone.

Tree Decay

Flooded Tree Roots

Downed Limbs in a Forest of Trunks

The Pattern of a Tree Limb

2011-05-05T22:05:00.001-05:00

Tree Limb Observational Sketch

On a walk through the forest preserve today, I thought about the growth of tree branches. Seeing so many that had fallen to the ground, I wondered about their structural integrity. Upon further reflection, I think the downed limbs had more to do with flood damage to the roots than to any defect in the branches themselves. But, it got me thinking about how a branch grows out from a tree and sends out leaves.

Tree limbs tend to grow and send out leaves and branches in a spiral pattern to maximize exposure to sunlight. I found areas of the limb where it looked like the limb was going to grow in one direction, but then made a sharp turn. I am hypothesizing that the initial direction became damaged or did not get as much sunlight as its offshoot branches and was abandoned in favor of the more productive branch.

More observations about patterns:

Each branch and leaf stem reaches out at approximately a 60 degree angle.
Thorns on this tree seem to grow in the location of, but in lieu of, branches with leaves.
The ratio of the secondary branch to the primary limb remains constant in that the limb is approximately 2-3x larger in diameter than the branch.

Tracking Changes over Time

2011-05-02T12:23:00.003-05:00

Magnolia bush in my backyard

my backyard is a constructed ecosystem. but even so, i've tried to keep it as naturalistic as possible by minimizing turf grass, adding bushes and planting beds, and introducing edible plants into the landscape to encourage wildlife (but not in my fenced off vegetable garden). so, despite it's constructed nature, it is still natural. and since it is my backyard and i spend a great deal of time there, i've decided to use it as my iSite for tracking changes over time.

i live in a downtown area with a small lot and just a tiny patch of turf grass for my kids to play in. that tiny patch of grass isn't doing well - bad soil, erosion, or my natural weed inhibitors and organic fertilizers don't go far enough to keep it lush and green. but oh well. if it all dies, i'll reseed it with more appropriate varieties that hopefully don't require the maintenance that kentucky bluegrass does. in most of the yard, i have gotten rid of my grass in favor of planting beds. i have flowering trees and bushes, berry bushes, herbs, and far too many hostas that will all fill out later in the season, but right now they look like green sticks in the mulch.

my annual garden is fenced off to keep the bunnies out - last year they ate every strawberry and all of my bean plants down to the stem. everyone tells me to get a pellet gun, but i'd rather put up a fence and encourage them to go elsewhere than to kill them. i've never been one for capital punishment, especially over stealing food. right now, the garden soil is bare except for ornamental grass straw as mulch. in a couple of weeks, i'll transplant seedlings. every year, i think about how to make my vegetable garden more of a perennial garden or a no-till operation, but i haven't figured out how to do that yet.

the vinca ground cover has surprised me this year. i planted it last year and already it has leafed out and grown tall with cute little purple flowers. little buds are everywhere - such a wonderful departure from the brown sticks that make up our chicago winters.

the squirrels are much fatter this year. and there are birds everywhere. the cardinals stuck around over the winter, but new birds are back. i want to learn their names and more about them.

in the fall, i let the leaves fall on my mulch beds and by spring when i lifted them up, tiny white strings of mycorrhizal fungi were below the leaf cover - healthy soil! so important for the large norway maple that is at the center of my small yard and at least 50 years old. the species is considered invasive because it sends off those helicopter seeds and starts seedlings everywhere. and its shade is so dense it is hard to grow much below it. but, it's cool to sit under in the hot summer and it is a gorgeous focal point for my small yard. and it hasn't shaded my garden yet. two years ago after we moved into this house, the maple lost about 1/3 of its branches in a wind storm. an arborist said it has verticillium wilt, which is a fungal infection that weakens trees. the arborist said to treat it as a chronic disease - keep the soil fertilized and healthy with good fungi - in order to give the tree the best shot at survival. similar to how we try to keep ourselves healthy by eating good food and exercising to fend off attacks by microbes ourselves. this tree is central to my landscape and i hope to keep it around for a very long time.

the lots are small in my neighborhood and the house next to me is for sale. it will likely be torn down in favor of another large house on a small lot and my garden and landscape will need to adapt to the changing conditions of less sun. and i'll have to adapt too. dynamic non-equilibrium - everything changes. i need to roll with it and not fight it. my garden will still be my oasis, no matter how much sun it gets in the future.

Thoughts on a Tulip

2011-05-02T10:42:00.003-05:00

Backyard Tulips

i decided to focus my attention on my backyard for a couple of iSites this week, for a couple of reasons. 1) i love my backyard and have put a lot of effort into making it beautiful and 2) i'm getting seriously close to my next trip and the deadline for all of my assignments - and my backyard is very convenient. and the tulips are out and beautiful this time of year.

so, tulips. while outside, i studied my tulips looking through the lens of multi-functional design. when thinking about this, i divide the tulip plant into three parts - the bulb root, the leaves, and the flower. i'll focus on the flower because we don't plant tulips for the foliage or the bulb.

primary function of the flower: to attract pollinators for reproduction. tulips can reproduce asexually by growing new bulbs and through self-pollination and sexually by cross-pollination. asexual bulb reproduction is quick and efficient because they can sprout flowers the next year if conditions are right, thereby increasing the odds that they will be able to reproduce sexually and cross-pollinate their genes in the future. sexual reproduction and seed production is much slower - it takes around 8 years for a seed too mature enough to produce a flower - so the tulip needs both types of reproduction to carry on the species - asexual reproduction to increase their numbers and sexual reproduction to increase diversity in the species. this diversity is what allows the plant species to weather the plant's dynamic non-equilibrium, or constantly changing conditions. but other than the obvious reproduction aspect, what other functions does the form of the flower serve?

why is it barrel shaped? the petals spiral out from the center where the female pistil and male stamens are located. the pistil has 3 sides (ovaries) to it and there are 6 stamens. once the petals open up a bit more, they will channel water to the bottom of the flower and then down the stem to the roots. the same can be said for the leaves, which are rippled at their sides. not sure why. the flower has the ability to self-fertilize, which is also confusing because that is also asexual reproduction and does not add to the diversity of the species.
why the vibrant colors? some are multicolored and variegated while others are monochromatic, with colors that vary like a rainbow. some of the variation is a result of cross-pollination, no doubt. perhaps the species is just testing out which colors attract which pollinators. bees are good pollinators, but it seems like tulips self-pollinate the majority of the time, which would seem to negate the purpose of sexual reproduction increasing diversity. perhaps the need to sexually reproduce isn't that great in this species because it's been propagated by humans for so long?
why does the flower and stem tilt toward the sun? does it contain photosynthetic properties? it isn't green, so i doubt that. perhaps it is like a solar tracker, and by tilting the flower and stem to toward the sun, the rest of the plant follows suit? i know the stems is highly conductive of water and will wilt very quickly when water is removed. perhaps the water in the stem directs the flower somehow? when the water warms by the sun, it rises to the top in the direction of the heat? dunno.

i need to so more iSites on animals, but they just don't sit still long enough to get a good look at them! but plants are definitely multi-functional.

Sound Mapping the Morton Arboretum

2011-04-24T22:34:00.001-05:00

Sound Map of the Morton Arboretum

Another day, another chance to work on my iSites - I still have a few more to do before my next Biomimicry trip in 3 weeks, so I am using every opportunity to finish them that I can find.

Today is Easter. We are not religious, but my two little kids like the idea of the Easter Bunny, so after hunting eggs in the back yard we went to the Morton Arboretum to welcome spring the way we feel most comfortable - by being outside. For this iSite, I did a sound map. By closing my eyes, I made a map of every sound I heard. I was also supposed to see if any of the sounds were related or responsive to one another.

The Morton Arboretum is a beautiful place, but it is a constructed landscape. Artificial and beautiful. I tried to find as natural of a place as I could, so I walked down a field and found a natural creek to sit by. The main thing I heard while I was sitting there listening was the sound of water falling over a rock in the creek and the sounds of people. Apparently, a lot of people think to welcome spring at the Arb too. There was a lot of human based activity - cars, bikes, too many airplanes overhead. The human voices were responsive to one another, but not so much the cars. I could hear a lot of birds. Cardinals and a bird I'm pretty sure was a finch. I also heard rustling of small animals in the leaves.

When I opened my eyes, I saw a pair of ducks swimming in the creek and building their nest, pair bonded for the mating season. Frogs in the distance calling out for mates. Birds likely doing the same thing. Mating season at the Arb.

Happy Spring!

2011-04-24T09:18:00.001-05:00

The Cantilevered Tree

2011-04-23T21:39:00.006-05:00

Cantilevered Tree at the Naperville Riverwalk

For today's iSite, I was to test my skills of observation by drawing an object and then trying to draw it again without looking.

Walking along the Riverwalk in my town, I came across a tree that has grown horizontally off the riverbank. It's roots have grown horizontally and are strong enough to cantilever the tree 30' over the riverbank. The tree is truly an amazing feat of natural engineering. It will fall eventually, but so will everything. For now, it has found a way to survive and stand out from the rest of the trees - gaining access to solar resources that others cannot reach. Life will find a way.

As for my skills of observation, I spent a lot of time observing the tree. The roots that hold it up are buried under the ground, but I would have loved to see how deep they reach and how far they extend. Moss was growing on the underside of the tree to the east - not surprising considering it was only a few feet above the water and a river that often floods. This tree has spent a bit of time underwater and it still survives.

Drawing by looking at the tree, but not the paper, was pretty difficult. I felt like I should have picked a simpler object for this exercise, but the outline of the second drawing was not much different than the first. Which was kind of cool.

Business as an Ecosystem (Coastal Salt Marsh)

2011-03-20T21:38:00.001-05:00

What would it mean to run a company like an ecosystem?

Ding Darling Wildlife Preserve, Sanibel Island, Florida

Using Sanibel Island as my test model, I've thought about this question.

Sanibel Island is a barrier island off the gulf coast of Florida. Th

e coastal salt marsh ecosystem is formed on the inland side of Sanibel Island and is a water-based ecosystem that has adapted to tidal fluctuations in water levels. Mangrove trees and oysters form land masses and inter-tidal areas that are the nurseries for the sea and the rookeries for many birds and mammals.

What can we learn from this ecosystem and how can it influence business practices?

An ecosystem is interdependent and the the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Successful businesses need to be able to see the big picture and to understand the connections between each aspect of their work. This ability allows a company to plan for future contingencies as well as streamline operations and reduce waste and redundancies.

One of the most abundant plants in this ecosystem is the mangrove tree, a freshwater plant that is able to desalinate the salty/brackish water in order to obtain the water it needs to survive. If businesses were designed to cleanly harvest abundant resources without contributing harmful byproducts, they would restore the land and its resources they use instead of exploiting them. Additionally, by learning a skill that other businesses cannot replicate, they have a competitive advantage.

Oysters create a natural concrete that allows them to adhere to sandbars, adapting to tidal fluctuations. By manipulating their shell to close and keep the animal inside from drying out, the oysters survive where others cannot. If businesses were flexible and able to adapt to not only expected changes, as the oysters do, but also unexpected changes, they are more likely to survive the "downs" and thrive during the "ups."

Over one half of the land mass of Sanibel Island has been set aside as a wildlife preserve and the areas that have been settled by humans fit fairly seamlessly into the natural environment and aesthetic. Heights of buildings are limited to below the height of the trees; houses on the seashore are raised on stilts to reduce damage due to storm surge; beaches are left undisturbed and vegetation and seafood that washes up is a nutritious resource for shore birds; and so on. In the example of Sanibel Island, humans have chosen to integrate with the natural ecosystem rather than fighting against it, which is a paradigm shift compared to the majority of human development. If companies were to emulate this model and seamlessly integrate with the surrounding environment, costs associated with environmental cleanup, maintenance, and waste disposal (among others) could be reduced.

Sanibel Island Ecosystem Interactions

2011-03-20T13:52:00.005-05:00

Marine Life Interactions at Sanibel Island
(sketch by Amy Coffman Phillips)

This iSite took place on an ecology tour through Tarpon Bay on the Ding Darling Natural Wildlife Refuge in Sanibel Island, FL. A biologist, Brianna Coffman who turns out to be a distant unknown cousin of my dad (it's a small, interconnected world), led our tour with incredible knowledge and insight about this coastal marsh ecosystem. In addition to the insights learned from the boat, our tour guide also gave us knowledge about how marine life interacts below the sea, interactions I've sketched above. Because this was a boat tour and not a snorkeling tour, my photos of their aquarium will have to suffice for now.

my biologist guide's attempt to recreate tarpon bay's marine ecosystem
(photo by Faye Coffman)

Barnacles attach to any hard substrate they can find, including the shells of various marine organisms. While walking the beach, I found beautiful pink and white barnacles attached to a pen shell (marine mollusk). Given the amount of dead pen shells with barnacles I found on the beach, it is possible that the barnacles could get out of control and adversely affect the pen shell's ability to feed itself, developing a parasitic relationship.

Whelks, such as the Lightening Whelk Conch, are carnivores that are able to eat the flesh of the barnacle by grinding down their outer shell. The Conch uses its shell to grind and can repair and grow new shell using calcium from the ocean - talk about life friendly chemistry! They also use suction to pry open the shells of their prey, and their favorite food seems to be the Arck, because their shells must number in the trillions and create Sanibel's white sand beaches. These beaches create more land mass and continue the cycle of land creation.

Red Mangrove roots forming new islands
(photo by Amy Coffman Phillips)

As this sketch shows, terrestrial organisms are continually looking for new opportunities to colonize new land formed by the shells of marine life.

Terrestrial Interactions at Sanibel Island
(sketch by Amy Coffman Phillips)

Intertidal zone sand bars are colonized by oysters, which form land by secreting a natural concrete-like compound and bind them together and with the land. The interstitial spaces are filled by crabs and other organisms looking for shelter from the birds. The birds land, looking for the crabs and find some, leaving feces to fertilize the sand bar with nitrogen, necessary for plant growth.

Sand bars that stay more or less above the tides are colonized by floating mangrove seedlings, which grow roots into the sand. Barnacles and other organisms colonize the roots and trap more sediment, which stabilizes the roots and allows the plant to grow more roots. Birds sit on these roots and look for food, giving nitrogen to the new soil with their feces. This process grows an island and the sum of its parts are greater than they would be if each organism existed alone.

Mangroves have an impact on the ecosystem at the macro-scale as well. This network of roots in the coastal marshes are the nurseries of the ocean and they help coastal nurseries respond to dynamic non-equilibrium by dampening hurricane winds and slowing flood waters.

Sanibel Island Coastal Ecosystem

2011-03-20T11:29:00.003-05:00

Jacob chasing shore birds on Sanibel Island, FL

For this iSite, I was to translate what I saw into an engineering diagram of energy flows. I noticed that all normal energy flows are cyclical - each organism's waste creates an input of energy for another. The energy my son expended chasing shore birds is not accounted for on the diagram below, but maybe it should be.

Sanibel Island Coastal Ecosystem Energy Flows

The Laughing Gull on Sanibel Island

2011-03-20T10:53:00.009-05:00

Laughing Gull on Sanibel Island

We just returned from our vacation to Sanibel Island and Ft. Myers, Florida and it is so nice to get a break from the cold winters in Chicago. As a part of my work on the Biomimicry Professional Certificate Program, I get to do site observations called iSites. During this time, I have the luxury to think and observe nature while trying to tune out distractions - not always easy for a mom with two small kids. For this iSite, I was to imagine my life as an organism I observed, and the seagulls on Sanibel Island are ubiquitous.

I feel a bit like I am cheating on my iSite to talk about the sea gulls at Sanibel. I threw down a cracker and within three minutes, there were about 20 birds hovering over me. Yes, I know I'm not supposed to feed the wildlife, but sometimes you get great pictures that way!

If I were a seagull, I would spend much of my time waiting for humans on the beach to leave or throw food. I would not be that dissimilar to a vulture in my feeding habits. When humans are not around as much, I scavenge and swim for crabs and shrimps. I coexist nicely with other shore birds, but we are very competitive over food. I have agile wings and can catch food in the air. I'm an omnivore. I'm not picky. Most of my cousins scavenge in parking lots and landfills, so by comparison I'm very classy.

My special niche is my ability to take advantage of areas where humans or other organisms have changed the habitat substantially. While I prefer to breed in coastal marshes and beaches, human modification of this habitat does not bother me. My colony mates and I adapt well. We make our nests of grasses.

I have few natural preditors. Some herring gulls feed on my eggs if I am not careful, but beyond the search for food I have little population control. You will find me everywhere on the coast.

Multi-Functional Design

2011-03-09T13:02:00.001-06:00

Recent one page report on Life's Principle to be resource (material & energy) efficient, focused on the sub-principle to design multi-functionally.

How will we feed ourselves?

2011-03-06T08:52:00.006-06:00

Green Drinks - Naperville, an organization I help organize, has decided to delve deeply into the issues of local self-reliance and adaptability this year. Every month, lectures will focus on the Transition Town initiative as we explore different ways that our community will adapt to peak oil and climate change.

This month's lecture was entitled "how will we feed ourselves?" Steve Tiwald of the Green Earth Institute and Ron Nowiki of The Land Office discussed organic food production and permaculture, respectfully.

Highlights from Mr. Tiwald's lecture on organic gardening and community supported agriculture:

There are approximately 6 billion critters in 1 cup of good, organic soil. The use of petroleum based fertilizers kill these critters.
3 c's of organic gardening: Compost, Crop rotation, and Cover crops. He likes red clover as a cover crop.
Soybeans are now 80% genetically modified. The organic seal forbids GMO.

Highlights from Mr. Nowiki's lecture on permaculture and Liberty Gardens

By 2100, one-half of all species currently alive today will be extinct. (We are in the middle of 6X, or the sixth major extinction our planet has faced.)
"a child can only learn so much from a mown lawn"
A 40' tree transpires 40 gallons of water per day +\-
A linden or bass wood makes a delicious and flowery tea that is mildly sedative
An AIA study determined that design changes alone can save 40% in energy costs.
Lemon grass makes a beautiful decorative grass in container arrangements with sage surrounding it. Lemon grass makes a good tea. Ornamental grasses can be harvested and used as mulch under strawberries.
Kwintis beans are a good pole bean.
Another decorative arrangement is red cabbage in front of dinosaur kale.
Tuscan kale - gorgeous tall fountain looking plant.
Gooseberries for juice.
Clove currant - fragrant plant with edible berry that doesn't taste that great.
Apple service berry - gorgeous white glower tree with berry that looks like a blue berry but tastes like a seedy apple; autumn brilliance has a great fall color.
Elderberry - mates a fritter; berry high in antioxidants, but invasive.
Rhubarb grows in some shade.
Hardy kiwi is a vine, also called grape kiwi; best when soft and mushy after a frost
Neonicotinoids may be causing honeybee colony collapse disorder.
Bird baths are popular and attract birds to eat insects.
Succession of a mature landscape. At first, mice and voles loved his permaculture yard. Unitl a screetch owl moved in to help control that population.
Pesticides we use were evolved from chemical warfare from WW2. Since production capacity was already there, it was just adapted to a new use. But do you really want chemical warefare in your food?
Victory gardens in 1944 produced 40% of produce consumed in the country.
Compost, sand, and topsoil in equal parts make good soil starter.
"Liberty Gardens," liberating ourselves from the industrial food supply.
Sungold cherry tomato.
Microgreens grow in the basement under lights. Standard 4' fluorescent bulb almost as good as full spectrum lights.
Forest gardening - martin Crawford; part shade gardening

References and Future Reading:

Elliot Coleman, 4 season gardening and the new organic grower
Rodale institute
David Orr - Ecological Literacy
Rogar Swang - Victory Gardens
Liberty Gardens
Hold to Nature
Energy Bullitain

Transition Towns

2011-02-26T14:16:00.001-06:00

How will our towns adapt to climate change?

A local group I help organize - Green Drinks Naperville - is addressing this question through a series of monthly presentations this year focused on promoting our local green economy.

It started with the idea of Transition Towns and adapting our local community and economy to the changes that climate change will necessitate. This idea, promoted by the Transition Network, is based on the ideas of permaculture, but grew beyond food to address holistic climate change adaptation for local towns. The program provides a framework through which local communities can figure out what the needs of their community will have and help draft a strategic plan to address them.

Goals of the Transition Town include:

liberate our time (consumers to producers)
triple bottom line (job sharing, telecommuting, less hours)
generosity and sharing over hunkering down (collaborative consumption, barter)
currencies that favor connection and community over hoarding and lack
economies that consider community well-being as new definition of success
spirit of "enough for all" rather than "winner takes all"

Initiatives our town will hopefully employ include addressing production and distribution of local food, energy (and resource) harvesting and storage, business and economy, education, building and manufacturing, transportation, government, health/well-being, heart and soul/spirituality, arts and crafts, waste, etc.

Reference: Green Drinks Naperville lecture on Transition Towns by Jodi Trendler

"Birth"

2011-02-21T19:32:00.000-06:00

My only sister had her first child the day I created this piece, so birth was on my mind. When I thought of the phrase “life creates conditions conducive to life,” I was drawn to the idea of life creation and the cyclical nature of the phrase, beginning and ending with “life.” I thought about the intricacies of our bodies and how every condition must be ideal to create and sustain life. I reflected on how most life begins with an egg, either inside or outside of a mother’s body, and I thought about how an egg is an oblong circular shape, ideal in shape and strength to protect the fragile life within. For these reasons, I chose to represent mother and child as humans cocooned in an egg. I then gave the piece to my sister, Sarah, to commemorate the birth of her son, Ambrish.

Biomimicry PCP 2011 Cohort

2011-02-07T14:43:00.000-06:00

Garden Song

2011-02-01T11:44:00.002-06:00

"Grain for grain, sun and rain
Find my way in nature's chain
Till my body and my brain
Tell the music of the land."

- Garden Song by David Mallett

Life's Principles Project #1

2011-01-29T21:46:00.003-06:00

I just submitted my first project for my Biomimicry Life's Principles class and I have to say - it was so much fun. I was tasked with creating a hypothetical marketing campaign for Life's Principles and I chose to market to college students. Today’s college students will inherit the world that we create, and we need to inspire them to create a better world for tomorrow.

How many of us signed up for multiple credit cards we didn’t need in college just to get a free t-shirt – and they weren’t even attractive shirts!? T-shirts are great ways to grab a college student’s attention with the hope that they will be interested to learn more, and this strategy is even more effective if the shirts are worn by professors and students they admire. This person-to-person marketing campaign targets college-aged students who, as a group, are mature enough to know the direction in which they want to take their life may be undecided about how to channel their ambitions.

The t-shirt uses the slogan “reduce, reuse, recycle, (re)THINK.” While the concepts of Life’s Principles reach well beyond the materially focused 3Rs, I have used it because it plays into concepts associated with environmentalism that are already prevalent in American culture. It would allow the Biomimicry Group to play off of these already familiar ideas and refocus the mind of the reader.

This campaign will introduce the basic concepts of Biomimicry’s Life’s Principles to those that are young, impressionable, and energetic enough to make a difference!

Oracle, Arizona

2011-01-25T14:43:00.002-06:00

I recently returned from my first biomimicry intensive trip to Oracle, Arizona, which kicked off my two year journey to learn about biomimicry from the folks at the Biomimicry Institute. To say the experience was amazing is an understatement. It was life changing in its way. It made me see possibilities where before I saw roadblocks. It made me excited about my profession and the positive change I can be a part of. Anyone who is interested in the concepts of biomimicry, or learning from nature to solve design problems, should seriously consider taking one of their one-week educational sessions. You will not be disappointed.

All waste is food...

2011-01-13T10:59:00.002-06:00

"All waste is food, and everybody winds up reincarnated inside somebody else".
- Janine Benyus, Biomimicry

ESFJ

2011-01-07T13:43:00.000-06:00

ESFJ - "Seller". Most sociable of all types. Nurturer of harmony. Outstanding host or hostesses. 12.3% of total population.

Free Jung Personality Test (similar to Myers-Briggs/MBTI)

Biomimicry Cohort 2011 Bios

2010-12-15T13:06:00.000-06:00

I just found out that my bio is up on the biomimicry website. How exciting! This is really going to happen in less than a month!

Holiday Decorations

2010-11-30T14:06:00.002-06:00

xmas 001, originally uploaded by dgphilli.

I am loving my planters this year. Flowers in the spring, greenery in the summer, millet in the fall, and branches in the winter. I try to use real berries and plants outdoors to feed the birds (and squirrels) and mulch my garden when they're done.

Greenbuild Recap: Mannahatta & the Mtigwakki

2010-11-17T23:02:00.000-06:00

Greenbuild 2010 started today in Chicago and I attended a seminar featuring my former employers, Bill Browning and Chris Garvin of Terrapin Bright Green, as well as James Patchett from the Conservation Design Form and Eric Sanderson of the Wildlife Conservation Society. I can objectively say that it was a fascinating panel centered around Mr. Sanderson's book Mannahatta: A Natural History of New York. One of the main reasons I applied to the Biomimicry program was to learn more about ecology, so Mr. Sanderson's career as a landscape ecologist is very interesting to me.

The thesis of "Mannahatta" centers around the reconstruction of Manhattan ecology to when it was first discovered by settlers. Based on research, Mr. Sanderson layers the native ecological systems and the current grid of concrete and steel in order to discuss the habitat needs of previous and current occupants. Food, water, shelter, and reproductive resources create a habitat be it for humans or other animals. He also discusses the need for meaning in our existence and how that makes a habitat a home.

Mr. Browning applied this information to a project he worked on where a building was unknowingly built over an indigenous stream in Manhattan over seventy years ago, so massive sump pumps were employed over the building's lifespan to remove this ground water to the storm sewers. By recognizing the native ecological footprint of the site, the owners can now use this information to make use of this clean, cool water to replace existing potable and non-potable uses, saving money and resources.

Mr. Patchett gave a stirring account of the habitats that native plants cultivated when they were indigenous to the area but now that humans have "broken the botanical law" by polluting these habitats, they are no longer able to thrive. In particular, he spoke of the rhizosphere, the 6' or so below the surface where roots hold water in native landscapes, that has been destroyed by development and advocates for responsible land management. He believes strongly that "water is everything" and restoring the water cycle to its previous balance it is the key to ecological restoration.

My favorite quote from the session:

"When we try to pick out anything by itself we find that it is bound fast, by a thousand invisible cords that cannot be broken, to everything in the Universe." - John Muir

8 Easy Ways to Eat Sustainably

2010-11-04T15:04:00.003-05:00

(excerpted from What I Learned from Dan Barber and Tom Colicchio About How to Eat Sustainably by Lauren Matison)

Shop at the greenmarkets as much as possible.
Buy only what foods are in season. (Tom: “Don’t create a demand for strawberries in winter!”)
Eschew processed foods. (Tom: “Wage war with the supermarket.”)
Eat what has been produced within 100 miles of where you live or vacation. (Dan: “You’re in pursuit of flavor. Go directly to the source.”)
Take yourself and your children to be educated at a nearby farm.
Support environmentally-conscious restaurants, and subsequently the farms they work with.
The ultimate sustainable experience: Attend a farm-to-table feast in the middle of a farm. Good sources: Outstanding in the Field or Sustenance on the Farm
Find sustainable reminders: Pick up a copy of Edible magazine and read it, cover to cover.

Working on a Logo...

2010-10-26T15:11:00.001-05:00

this is pretty terrible. i like the ideas, but not the execution. i'll likely need to pay someone because my photoshop skills and graphic creativity are not up to par right now.

The Meaning of the Name "Liquid Triangle"

2010-10-26T11:46:00.002-05:00

Liquid Triangle, based on the Golden Triangle

The name "Liquid Triangle" was born in 1994 during my Calculus 1 class at the University of Illinois. I was sitting next to a friend who would later become my husband trying to decipher the hieroglyphics that our teacher was scribbling on the chalkboard. Our professor wrote something that looked like "liquid triangle" on the board. We didn't know what she was talking about, but we thought it would be a really cool name for a band. Since neither of us played an instrument anymore, we thought - how about an architecture firm! More than fifteen years later, that dream is still a work in progress, but we're getting closer. My husband is no longer an architect; in fact he never practiced as one after getting his MBA; and I am in the process of a career transition that will take me to places yet unknown. But we are both naturally inspired and we came upon by accident, or fate, a name that has great meaning for us.

Bruce Rawles describes a "sacred geometry" that permeates the universe as geometric templates that reveal the nature of forms in the world. These forms he says are, under it all, interconnected and inseparable. The Golden Ratio, or the Fibonnaci ratio, (1.618 to infinity) is the ratio of growth where the ratio of the larger portion to the smaller portion is the same through multiple generations. This pattern of growth is seen as the pattern for reproduction in much of nature.

how limbs branch on trees
how leaves radiate from a stem
the arrangement of a pine cone
sunflower and artichoke florets
the family tree of the honeybees

I learned about the Golden Rectangle in architecture classes and studied how this geometry was the basis for much of early Greek and Roman architecture. In fact, one of my masters design projects was a spirituality center, in which the progression to the sacred space followed the spiral that emerges from this geometry. I have recently come across its relative, the Golden Triangle, from which a spiral emerges. To me, this is the perfect representation of a liquid triangle: growth in nature, introducing the fluid and organic to the built environment.

As my calculus classes can attest, I am not a mathematician, but I find the underlying geometries of growth and reproduction in nature to be inspiring.

Amy

References:
Sacred Geometry by Bruce Rawles
Wikipedia

Introduction to Biomimicry

2010-10-12T12:05:00.001-05:00

For those of you new to the concepts of biomimicry, check out this interesting slide show on Treehugger.

a quote for fall

2010-10-08T21:41:00.001-05:00

"Autumn is a second spring when every leaf's a flower."
- Albert Camus

I got in!!!

2010-10-05T15:54:00.000-05:00

Biomimicry Design Spiral

I'm amazed and truly humbled that I was accepted to the 2011 Biomimicry Professional Certification Program! It starts in January, so many of my blog entries will start to focus on the education I am receiving. It's such a new and emerging field that I am still a little nervous about it's practical applicability, but I'm taking a leap of faith. I will work hard, learn all I can about applying applying lessons from nature to the built environment, and pass it on.

Garden Gossip: 4th Week in September

2010-09-28T15:14:00.002-05:00

Garden Gossip, originally uploaded by dgphilli.

Things are winding down in the garden lately. I planted new lettuce seeds which are now sprouting. The tomatoes are largely spent, but the dill remains vigilant even though I've cut it down to the bone once already. This weekend I will go out to harvest my last set of herbs before the frost.

Fall is a melancholy time for me. I love gardening and I love the summer, but I'm also enjoying preparing for the winter. I'm enjoying wearing sweaters and jeans after months of heat. I'm eating the greens from my CSA in various preparations, most of which are not healthy for weight loss. I'm bringing out the old slow cooker and making chili and soups. I'm getting our unfinished basement prepared for my 1yo boy and 3yo girl to be able to ride their bikes and play with their outside toys down there for the cold months. And, I'm drawing up plans for the four seasons room I hope to build this spring or next. Soon I'll start thinking about what I will grow next season.

And so the wheel of the year turns again. Welcome, Fall!

Passively Conditioned Houses

2010-09-28T13:43:00.004-05:00

I happened to read a fascinating article in the New York Times this weekend called "Beyond Fossil Fuels: Can We Build in a Brighter Shade of Green?" Except for one notable residential exception, most of my work as an architect has been in large scale building projects. Recently, I have been fascinated to learn as much as I can about greening single family homes for one primary reason: because I now live in one.

As anyone who owns a home will know, home improvement work is never done. Well, double that for an architect. We are always thinking of projects and changes we want to make, even to a relatively new home! This article, however, is not about something I can do to make my current home more environmentally friendly (although I do have my takeaways for renovation at the end); it's a whole new paradigm of building green from the onset.

Image copyright: Mika Grondahl and Guilbert Gates / The New York Times

I had not heard of the Passive House Standard before reading this article, probably because there are only 13 certified in the United States in the last two years since the standard's creation, although according to the article they are prevalent in Europe. I have heard of and admired the requirements of the Living Buildings Challenge, a strict standard into which the passive home standard would fit into nicely.

The above graphic illustrates highly insulated walls (17 inches compared with the building standard 6"!) with two air barriers - one on the interior and one at the exterior. An air exchanger is combined with a heat exchanger to provide fresh air while reheating outdoor air with conditioned indoor air. Using the Passive House Planning Package as an energy model, design and construction decisions are modeled and trade-offs are made in real time. By doing this, passive homes can use up to 90% less heating and cooling energy than standard homes built to code and completely eliminate the use of fossil fuels through solar energy collection and water heating. And Habitat for Humanity is doing one in Vermont!

This is great, but how does this affect the house I live in now - a builder's special built barely to energy code? Here are my takeaways:

1 - Hire a professional to conduct a blower door test to find out where your air leaks are. When about $500 in cash frees up, I will do this. By blowing air into your home and testing the pressure it takes to do so, you will get a good idea of how tight your house is and where it is leaking (likely, the attic).

2 - If you have an unfinished attic or basement, as I do, add as much insulation as you can and combine it with an air barrier. Rigid spray foam works great as both and you avoid the problems that can sometimes be caused by a plastic vapor barrier. See Joe Lstiburek's insights - he is a brilliant and entertaining educator on all things building science.

3 - Think replacement cycle. For example:

When your heating system wears out, replace it with an efficient version that takes in fresh air from outdoors and exchanges it with stale air from indoors.
When your windows fail, replace them with triple paned glazing with insulated frames.
If you need to replace your roof or wall shingles, add one or two layers of 2" rigid insulation on the outside of your studs and an air barrier.

Even if your existing home or building can't be completely passively heated, I believe that in most cases it is better to reuse what you have than to start over, as long as you leave it better than you found it.

Further Reading from a somewhat contrary, but well respected, point of view:
Passivhaus Building Science by John Straube
Further Reading on Passivhaus by John Straube

Happy Harvest!

2010-09-27T11:25:00.002-05:00

001, originally uploaded by dgphilli.

A big reason to love and miss mayor Daley

2010-09-16T07:35:00.001-05:00

Streetscape beautification in Chicago

Pretty

2010-09-16T07:32:00.001-05:00

I love the dreamy ginko trees against the climbing vines. The natural
overtaking the man-made is beautiful to me. Building at Lake Street
and the river in Chicago.

A Devotional

2010-09-11T09:51:00.002-05:00

"as a drop of water is part of the ocean,
so am i a part of the earth, my mother.
she created me, she nurtures me,
and she will receive me when i die.
in gratitude i honor her at this time."
- Starhawk

Proposed Kitchen Retrofit

2010-08-31T14:30:00.019-05:00

My friend wants to redo her kitchen and she asked me to send a few quick sketches her way for inspiration. She has a suburban split level home built in the 1970s. As you walk in the front door, an existing L-shaped kitchen with breakfast table is straight ahead with sliding glass doors that overlook a screened in porch and large yard. Her husband is a contractor, so I think she'll get a deal on the construction. Here were the ideas I sent her.

Scheme 1: Kitchen Location to Remain
This scheme keeps the kitchen where it is, demolishes a partition wall between the kitchen and dining, and creates an open concept kitchen/dining room with a breakfast bar. This was the approach she and her husband were thinking of when she talked to me. The problems associated with this design are that it requires moving the sliding glass doors to the dining room side, replacing the window to fit above the counters, and exterior brick work associated with this move. It would also result in people looking at the kitchen sink immediately upon entering the home, which could be a problem.

Scheme 1 Plan: Kitchen Location to Remain

Scheme 1 Perspective Sketch

Scheme 2: Relocated Kitchen
This scheme proposes moving the kitchen to where the current dining room is and moving the new kitchen/dining table to where the kitchen is. The existing partition wall would still be removed to create an open concept space, but the only exterior work required would be a shorter window to accommodate the counter height. I have also adding a pantry and closet to close off the kitchen to the living room (below page, not shown), creating a more uniform living space.

Scheme 2 Plan: Relocated Kitchen

Scheme 2 Perspective Sketch

Garden Gossip: Harvest

2010-08-31T13:33:00.002-05:00

Harvest is in full swing in my garden right now. I get on average 2 cups of cherry tomatoes every other day - not bad for 8 plants, I think. I only planted two regular tomato plants and they have produced pretty well. I've added these tomatoes to my Green Earth Institute CSA tomatoes to make tasty sauce for eating and freezing. My jalapeño seedlings produced like crazy and I burned my hands last night seeding and freezing them for the winter (after burning my mouth making poppers). In addition to the seedlings, i planted a few jalapeño plants from seed and they are just now starting to produce. Hopefully I will get a few from them before the frost. And I just planted some lettuce from seed. It is a Burpee heatweave blend, so we will see if it takes. My spring lettuce was not successful. I have a few more packets, so I will keep seeding and watering and hoping for yummy salads.

Happy Harvest!

Urban Agriculture: Resources

2010-08-31T13:04:00.002-05:00

Links

The Land Institute. Natural Systems Agriculture as quoted in Biomimicry.
The Biomimicry Institute.

Interviews

Articles

Books

Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature

Rereading Biomimicry

2010-08-31T12:34:00.004-05:00

I am in the process of rereading the book Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature by Janine Benyus. I want to familiarize myself again with the specifics of the concept because I have been chosen to interview for the Biomimicry Professional Certificate Program. I applied because it sounds like an incredible education, one that cannot be duplicated. But I never really thought I would have a chance at getting in. But here I am, ready to interview in a couple of weeks, so I want to try and remember as much as I can.

I read the book for the first time in 2004 when I entered the C2C Home Competition, so I read it with a specific product bent. I was looking for concepts and products that would solve a specific design application. The idea of a building with an adaptable second skin intrigued me. In my entry, I designed an adjustable thermal skin with floor to ceiling adjustable windows for passive ventilation, adjustable and retractable exterior louvers control solar gain, and retracting insulation curtains to control heat loss. “State of the shelf” technologies were a requirement of this competition, and while I didn’t place, the research I conducted for my entry continues to inspire my work and thought.

But that was then. Rereading the book, I now find myself enthralled with the entire chapter entitled "How Will We Feed Ourselves?" The ideas those at The Land Institute espouse for Natural Systems Agriculture are intriguing. Self-fertilizing, self-weeding polyculture agriculture would seem to be the ideal we should be striving for and the Institute has a great deal of research and knowledge available on their site. I will post more detailed recollections from this chapter in the future because it is truly fascinating.

My goals, lifestyle, and even interests have changed dramatically from the first time I read Biomimicry and the sign of a timeless book is one that can be read over and over with something new to tell you each time. Highly recommended.

Harvest

2010-08-24T21:41:00.002-05:00

Isn't it divine?

Urban Agriculture: Research Outline

2010-08-12T16:24:00.004-05:00

Introduction

premise. why locally raised food is good for the environment and customers
the problems associated with centralized, conventional agriculture (introduction, not lengthy)

History

Midwest early agriculture - native americans and the pioneers
The beginning of modern agriculture and centralization
Victory Gardens
Permaculture and Natural Systems Agriculture
Midwest Aquaculture

Types

Suburban Yard Gardens - backyard and frontyard
Rooftop Gardens - large and small scale
Vertical Gardens
Community Gardens
Small-Scale Aquaculture

Lessons Learned

Midwest Case Studies

References

links
interviews
articles
books

Quarterly Research Projects

2010-08-12T16:00:00.009-05:00

While I am on "motherhood sabbatical", I've decided to assign myself quarterly research projects. Balancing the time to do this should be interesting while watching my two young children as well as fulfilling the continuing education requirements of my architecture license. But, as I've always told other people - it's important to keep your head in the game! So, here I go...

These research projects will focus on a subject I am interested in and, ideally, coincide with a seasonal theme.

Fall - in keeping with the harvest season, i will focus on a topic dear to my heart, "urban agriculture in the upper midwest"
Winter - in chicago, this is the heating season, so i will focus on "residential energy efficiency"
Spring - biomimicry in practice
Summer - tbd

i will use this blog as a record of the research and then synthesize lessons learned. this research is given away free of charge with copyright rights reserved. i welcome feedback and references. when reposting, please cite my blog in addition to my sources.

thank you and enjoy!
amy

Downcycled, but still Recycled

2010-08-02T22:08:00.003-05:00

i just got the kids a "buzz lightyear" stuffed doll at walgreens as a treat, and on it is a small removable tag that says it is filled with something called EarthRite Fiber, or recycled PET bottles. i thought it had to be greenwash, because it was for something as commercial as Toy Story 3, but the website is so cheesy, it has to be legit.

one word...plastics

2010-08-02T22:02:00.002-05:00

going back to my intent of this site being a reference for people, like me, who have a shameful memory, this is something i can never remember:

which plastics are ok and which could harm you?

when the BPA (Bisphenol A) freak out happened, i threw my avent bottles out with the rest of them. but then they took BPA out of my Nalgene and I'm back drinking my artificially flavored Crystal Light out of it daily. i'm drinking pink lemonade right now. shades of green: i almost never buy bottled water, but i drink flavored tap water out of BPA free #7 bottles. but one thing i truly find disturbing is that i never realized until just now that BPA lines the cans of the premixed formula i buy for my son. well, so much for that occasional convenience. good thing it's a once in a while thing for when we're on the move, but i should have thought of that. memory...

so i can remember, here are the plastic recycling numbers:

1, 2, 4, 5 are nice
3, 6, 7 (with BPA) are naughty

here is a useful graphic i kindly borrowed from another greenie blog:


posted from Greenilo

Genius Upcycling

2010-07-31T10:28:00.003-05:00

On one of my walks to the forest preserve, I pass by a house I love. It is what appears to be a really nice prairie style rehab of an old house. It's gardens are fantastic. I should post a photo so I can remember them in the dead of winter. At the sidewalk entry to this house are two planting urns, and the homeowener uses wine bottles as a self-watering tool. I personally love the aesthetic and it seems to work reasonably well, depending on the amount of water in the soil. I'm not sure I'd leave my plants unattended for a week with one, but as a stopgap to my forgetfulness, I rather like it. And, best of all, it's free!

Quote: "Isn't growth for the sake of growth the philosophy of cancer?"

2010-07-29T00:00:00.001-05:00

- John Langerak, Chester, ME as quoted in Scientific American, August 2010

Garden Gossip: What I (tried to) grow in the summer of 2010

2010-07-28T23:37:00.001-05:00

My mentor once told me that she didn't need to remember anything she can look up. I'm not sure that's entirely accurate because a lot of what I do involves thinking on my feet. But with the advent of blogs, looking things up has become so much easier. So, because I am like my mentor and have a hard time remembering specific details, I am veering off of the sustainability course a bit to discuss wine and gardening, two things I love.

What I tried to grow from Seeds:

Sweet Orange TMV F Tomato (Hybrid) (Stokes) - This particular type of cherry tomato is vigorous. It's taking over everything and toppling its cage. I hope to get a good yield this year.
Sweet Basil (Stokes) - easy to grow and tasty.
Cubanelle Pepper (Stokes)- pathetic and small. no peppers yet at all. i will need to start them earlier next year.
Riverside Sweet Spanish Onion (Stokes)- i think the cilantro bolting killed these by shading them out. i don't see them anywhere anymore. i try to plant in polyculture, but this was not the best paring.
Large Leaf Italian Parsley (Stokes)- parsley is so boring, i don't know why i grow it. especially since it grows wild from scattered seed in other areas of the garden. likely won't buy this again next year.
Sunmaster Cilantro (Stokes) - Need more cilantro! I think I need to dedicate a whole section of the garden for growing this stuff because I use it so much. It bolts so quickly and becomes Coriander, which is fine, but I like the leaves.
Green Beans (Stokes) - fabulous, except the bunnies think so too
Chile Pepper (Stokes)- pathetic. buy a seedling or start seeds much earlier.
Bellestar Tomato (Stokes)- lots of fruit. fingers crossed.
Chamomile (Stokes)- planted along stepping stones for decoration. still very small, but i am hopeful.
Dill (Botanical Interests). i got this packet free with a gift. i don't use it. supposedly i won't be able to get rid of it anymore either. we'll see.
Pumpkin (Botanical Interests). i got this packet free with a gift. i don't have room for such things, but my daughter is very excited. wait and see
Watermellon (Botanical Interests). i got this packet free with a gift. see pumpkin.
Cantelope (Botanical Interests). i got this packet free with a gift. see pumpkin.
Viola (for eczema and vericose veins) (Plantation Products from Jewel) - just leaves so far. pretty boring.
Nasturtium (for bacterial infections) (Plantation Products from Jewel) - this didn't take

What I grew from shoot or root:

Mary Washington Asparagus (Home Depot) - after the first shoots were eaten by vermin, the second ones seems to be doing well. i'm looking forward to this perennial many years into the future.
Shallots (Home Depot) - these may require more water than i give them, because they aren't looking too good.

What I bought plants or seedlings of:

Mint (Whole Foods) - grown in a pot with snap dragons. it isn't growing as vigorously this summer, but the pot is on the other side of the yard and doesn't get watered as much.
Jalapenos (unknown) - gang busters and caliente!
Rosemary (Whole Foods) - beautiful tree shaped specimen. i planted it in a pot this year. apparently chicago winters are harder than coastal new jersey winters and rosemary dies outside. huh.
Oregano (Whole Foods) - believe it or not, this overwintered in the garden last year. how is that possible?
Bay leaf - outside in a pot after wintering in my home. it survived!!!
Thyme - inherited from previous owner and alive
Chives - new after the gardeners installing new planting beds ripped up my old plants
Tarragon - don't know why i guy it. i never use it.
Blueberries - 5 plants of various varieties for cross polination
Blackberries - birds ate them all. i transplanted from last year, so i am hopeful next year will be better. i also need to put a net up after the fruit sets.
Raspberries. see blackberries. same deal.
Strawberries. nothing. i have nothing! i guess something is eating the flowers before they even have a chance to grow. so disappointing. too many leaves, no fruit.

I will definitely keep updating what I learn this year, simply so I can remember for the next.

Stories for my Grandchildren

2010-07-26T11:04:00.009-05:00

What stories would you like your great grandchildren to know about you someday?

i was recently asked this question on an essay application i submitted. i think it speaks to my viewpoint on environmentalism and how vital it is to our survival.

I am an environmentalist because I’ve always felt at home in natural environments and destroying beauty is a tragedy. Environmental catastrophes such as the Gulf oil spill bring to the forefront of my mind that our society of rampant consumption and short-term gratification cannot sustain itself. I hope future generations know I was a woman who loved her family fiercely and worked to make the world a better place for them. I would like the legacy I leave to be one where I worked with a network of like-minded individuals and groups to inspire others to make the hard changes that will be necessary to sustain our species. I would like to succeed in that goal by working hard, continually learning and drawing inspiration from nature, and teaching others to work together to improve the world. My grandfather always told his family to “live, learn, and pass it on.” I hope they say that I fulfilled his wish.

Garden Gossip: 4th week in July

2010-07-26T09:30:00.003-05:00

The garden is in full swing now. We are eating all of the greenbeans that the rabbit chooses to ignore. We had our first cherry tomatoes a few days ago. We are growing a hybrid sweet orange variety from Stokes. It is TMV F (Tobacco Mosaic Virus and Fusarium wilt) resistant, which is important to me because I've lost whole seasons to nematodes in the past. They are bushy and crazy wild, though. We left for a long weekend and returned to find that one of the plants had overturned it's cage! The bunny is still around. I won't be able to get rid of it until I put up the chicken wire fence in the fall.

My greatest pleasure with the garden isn't eating the food myself but watching my 3 year old daughter pick and eat the cherry tomatoes right off the organic vine. I grew them for her.

Gods, I love summer in Chicago.
Amy

Quote: "have they no grandchildren?"

2010-07-25T19:43:00.004-05:00

Excerpt from Tom Friedman's Op Ed in the NYT today:

"The last word goes to the contrarian hedge fund manager Jeremy Grantham, who in his July letter to investors, noted: 'Conspiracy theorists claim to believe that global warming is a carefully constructed hoax driven by scientists desperate for ... what? Being needled by nonscientific newspaper reports, by blogs and by right-wing politicians and think tanks? I have a much simpler but plausible 'conspiracy theory': the fossil energy companies, driven by the need to protect hundreds of billions of dollars of profits, encourage obfuscation of the inconvenient scientific results. I, for one, admire them for their P.R. skills, while wondering, as always: "Have they no grandchildren?"

Suburban Backyard Garden

2010-07-21T14:35:00.010-05:00

When we decided to move to the Chicago area from New York, we chose a suburb with great schools for our two little kids. We chose this house for its walkable, downtown location but also for its south facing back yard. After years of container gardening, I was looking forward to growing food in a large, ground-based location.

The yard had "great bones" when we purchased it - a large maple shade tree centered on the back door and medium sized bushes planted by the previous owner. We added the fence to create a safe place for the kids to play. We removed about one-third of the backyard grass in favor of a french style square foot garden, a cedar playhouse, and garden beds to surround the minimized turf. The garden itself is approximately 150sf of annual beds, 200 sf of perennial herbs, 50 sf of berry bushes, and ample space for decorative flowers and trees and bushes for privacy.

Sustainable Education:
Turf grass is ubiquitous in a suburban area, but it really only grows well in its native Scotland, where the weather is cool and water abundant. Since most climates do not match this ideal, grass requires artificial inputs of water, fertilizer, and control of volunteer plants (weeds) which are better suited to the climate. While grass should be minimized, it is also a useful recreation space.

Like all gardens, this back yard is a work in progress...

Concept Plan

Practical Sustainability

2010-07-21T08:27:00.005-05:00

i've been doing a lot of thinking about what i want this blog to be: interesting, fun and interactive. i want it to help connect a community of similar interests. while my expertise is sustainable architecture, i want it to be more than that -

connecting people in practical sustainable lifestyles

i don't always live up to my ideals. i live in a large house in the suburbs of chicago. i bought this house so that my kids could go to great schools and i could have a yard to grow my own food. but because of these choices, some of the things i do are really just putting "lipstick on a pig." will my hybrid cars, rainbarrel and organic garden ever make up for the embodied energy to build this house that is really too large for my family of four? no, but we did join a walkable community where everything we need is within walking distance so we rarely use the cars. life is about compromise. we make choices that we feel will give ourselves and our families the best chance in life, and sometimes this does not agree with other principles we try to live by.

i think we all do the best we can with what we have. and that's what i'll try to showcase here. practical sustainability.

here is a taste of some ongoing columns i plan to maintain:

Sustainable Education: interesting things i do or read about
Design Inspiration: projects, authors, or concepts that make me hopeful
Garden Gossip: digest of my organic garden
Wine Tasting: just for fun, wines i like and don't like, organic and conventional

thank you for coming on this journey with me. i hope you enjoy the ride.
amy

Garden Gossip: 3rd Week in July

2010-07-19T07:46:00.002-05:00

I have a garden in my back yard. It was the first thing I did to my back yard when I moved into this house last year. After many years of living in high rises and container gardening, I selected this house in large part because of its south facing rear yard where I could grow my own organic food.

Last year, I planted a little bit of everything: corn, tomatos, squash, pumpkin, watermellon, blackberry, raspberry, and many types of herbs. I had some successes, but since I was pregnant and largely ignored the garden, I had a lot of failures. We had a cherry tomato plant that produced a lot of little tomatoes that my then 2 year old daughter loved picking and eating. And the raspberry bushes did well. The rest got eaten by pests or disease.

This year, I've been more attentive to its needs. So that's where this entry comes in. I'd like to record weekly the successes and failures in my garden adventure.

Successes so far:

1. green beans are producing well. We just ate them last night with dinner and even my daughter ate them (huge success!). I got the seeds from Stokes. They came inoculated with some chemical. That probably kills my organic cred right there. But if it weren't for the f$*)#g rabbit my green beans would be thriving! I put a bird net around the whole crop for a couple of weeks to keep out the rabbit, but I just removed it yesterday when the japanese beetles were getting it and I couldn't reach them because of the net. But now, the rabbit is back. Many times a day I go out my back door thinking to myself "kill the rabbit!" But of course I can't. Won't. Would if I could. Blood meal doesn't work. Apparently he isn't afraid of the smell of blood as the manufacturer suggests. In the fall, I will put chicken wire around the base of my backyard fence. I may even have to fence out the garden itself temporarily this year. But yuck. I just like to keep my little French garden aesthetically pleasing and a huge green fence doesn't work with that.

2. tomatoes. so far, so good. I planted mostly cherry tomato varieties because my daughter loves them and I get a lot of large tomatoes through my CSA (community supported agriculture) share at the Green Earth Institute. They're all still green, but there are a lot of them. Fingers crossed on those.

Failures so far.

1. berry bushes. the birds got all my fruit this year. I put out two bird feeders, which has created a virtual bird sanctuary in my yard, but they ate all of my blueberries, blackberries, and raspberries. I don't know what's going on with my strawberries, but I don't even have buds on those. I didn't keep a close eye on the new fruit and the birds beat me to it. Next year, I'll put up a net. I also transplanted them this year to a new garden bed, so I know that affected their production quite a bit. My daughter loves blackberries and my husband loves raspberries, so they need to reap some of the rewards next year.

Fate unknown so far.

1. asparagus. roots were planted this spring and something (likely that damn bunny, chipmunk, or the various squirrels we have) ate the first shoots, but the second round seems to be staying around for a while. I planted three different beds in different areas of the garden and 2 of the 3 are doing well. In the failed one, something dug up most of the roots, so it'll be hard to recover from that.

So that is my first entry of Garden Gossip. I hope this will evolve into something useful for a wider audience than myself, but for now I'm fine with having it be my own garden record.

Testing mobile upload

2010-07-17T13:26:00.001-05:00

Amy Coffman Phillips

why is environmentalism through architecture important?

2010-07-12T14:15:00.000-05:00

buildings consume or are responsible for:

* 40% of the world’s total energy
* 25% or the world’s timber harvest
* 16% of fresh water withdrawl
* 35% of all carbon dioxide emissions
* 60% of the electricity generated in the US
* 30% of all carbon dioxide emissions.

Additionally, more than 210 million tons of solid waste is generated and disposed of annually – a substantial portion of which is attributed to construction site and building-use waste.

green design can counteract this, with the following benefits:

* results in a high-quality, healthy living environment
* lowers residents’ utility costs
* enhances residents’ connection to nature
* protects the environment by conserving energy, water, materials, and other resources
* advances the health of local and regional ecosystems

source: green communities criteria

Just the Beginning...

2010-06-05T23:48:00.000-05:00

Penthouse Terrace Garden

2007-07-26T12:54:00.014-05:00

Seating with a View

This penthouse terrace was my view from our dining room in our Jersey City apartment in 2007. The terrace was approximately 12' x 10' and was on the 23rd story of a large apartment building. Its exposure was to the south-west, so our microclimate was very warm and very windy. I had a Rosemary plant overwinter in our USDA Zone 7 and we were able to be outside in the afternoon with short sleeves in March.

Small coffee nook

I am an avid gardener, as you may notice from my posts. I was not satisfied with a few pots of ornamental plants. I needed space to grow food, flowers, and space to sit and enjoy my view of the Statue of Liberty.

Concept Plan

East Hampton NY Residence

2007-04-28T11:13:00.002-05:00

Enlarged model courtesy of Cook+Fox Architects

While working at Cook+Fox Architects in New York, I had the unique opportunity to help design and construct an immense single family home in East Hampton, New York. The owners came to my previous employer, Rick Cook, specifically because of previous work he had done out there as well as his knowledge and passion for green building. I got to work on the project because I am a die-hard greenie and had a working knowledge of the technical aspects of green building. And I had time, a precious commodity at any architecture firm.

The East Hampton home was designed to LEED 2.1 standards before LEED for Homes was released. While this rating system was not entirely appropriate to this project type, we felt it was a good starting point. And, due to its size, this project would never qualify for LEED for Homes, which is directed more at builders of tract housing. We also actively pursued passive survivability issues as Hurricane Katrina and her remnants were forefront in our minds. We also though hard about luxury homes, both the resource intensiveness of them as well as their inevitability, and decided to pursue green systems on this house as a case study for what can be done.

Green Features Graphic courtesy of Cook+Fox Architects

The concepts we focused on were preserving the natural dune characteristics of this site on the beach, using open geothermal wells for cooling to eliminate the need for noisy compressors, creating movable storm shutters and storm serge mitigation in case of a hurricane event, and working with an award-winning interior designer to use sustainable materials. We were also proud of our work to educate and work with the contractor on his first "green" home.

Building Section Courtesy Cook+Fox Architects

Ever the building science nerd, I was excited when we had the fortune to hire Joe Lstiburek for a day to speak to our office and review our drawings to provide insight. From him we learned about the benefits of rigid spray foam insulation as both an air barrier and an insulator, in addition to other building specific comments.

My role on this project was largely one of research and coordination. I coordinated the work of the interior designer, lighting designer, mechanical and electrical consultants, and our in-house team. I also conducted and coordinated various research tasks and designed specific tasks, such as the multiple fireplaces.

[insert LEED information]

No project is ever perfect and compromises are always made. But by the end of the project we felt we had created a beautiful home that the homeowners were proud of while educating the East Hampton, NY, building community about green building issues.

Ready Mix Service: Interior Retrofit and Addition [Unbuilt]

2006-09-11T15:33:00.000-05:00

the studio of liquid triangle worked on a renovation and new addition for ready mix service, inc., a family-owned ready mix concrete company in hamel, illinois, before the business was sold and the project abandoned. the program called for an interior demolition and reconstruction as well as a 800 sf new addition to their office facilities.

Floor Plan

Basic Elevation and Section

Green Features
balancing durability and the nature of their business, rms has chosen stamped concrete flooring. additionally, south facing glazing with overhangs and built-in planters provide ample daylighting to frequently used areas.

Rooftop Garden

2006-09-11T09:58:00.000-05:00

this rooftop garden was amy's personal sanctuary and magical oasis in the city. the patio is 36' long x 8' deep and paved with bricks. the only requirements were that plants were in containers and that there be space for a grill. the final product is both functional and beautiful. multitudes of herbs, tomatoes, strawberries, and raspberries feed the family. decorative plant colors are kept consistent and pots grouped. eating areas are screened from lounge areas by grouped evergreens. and the bare concrete wall is screened with flowering vines.

vegetation will grow to screen the concrete wall

hanging baskets add vegetation to vertical walls

a small eating space

Suburban Front Yard Garden [class project]

2006-07-21T20:52:00.000-05:00

In an Introduction to Landscape Design class that I took through the New York Botanical Garden, I created a concept plan for an alternative suburban front yard. The client's requirements were that he wanted to reconfigure the front entry, screen noise from neighbors, and optimize views from his kitchen window.

My solution was to screen the front entry rather than reconfigure the existing house. I did this by adding a wooden arbor with climbing vines that extended to frame the view of a japanese maple. This vocabulary was extended on the other side of the house to form a porch with views of a new lily pond. I extended this vision to include a future shade garden and screened in porch at the back.

As with my other designs, I focused on habitat creation by creating a lily pond for frogs and birds, meadow grass for shelter and food, and a Brancusi sculpture with the sound of moving water to entertain the owner.

Small Balcony Retreat

2005-09-10T22:37:00.002-05:00

concept sketch

for this small balcony on a highrise near chicago, the constraints are plentyful. the small triangular space measures only 5'x8' at its widest point, it is on the 5th floor in a city known for its cold wind, and nothing can be permanently adhered to the structure.

small balcony plan

the client has a bonsai hobby, so amy created a bonsai balcony complete with dwarf tree and contemplative bench. because ithe solid guardrail obscures any view while seated, the space is inward and contemplative. a flat riverstone pebble mat is mechanically fastened to the concrete floor and a flexcrete triangular concrete planter holds a dwarf evergreen juniper.

bonsai tree as focal point

Cradle to Cradle Home Competition Entry

2005-09-09T15:52:00.000-05:00

I haven't uploaded a lot of portfolio work here because i have a hard time uploading and formatting portfolio work on blogger when I will need to hire someone to produce an official website/portfolio in a year or so. But in honor of my Biomimicry Certificate Program interview tomorrow, I thought I would post my entry for the cradle to cradle home competition of 2004 because I referenced it in my essays.

Amy's C2C Home Competition Entry. Click to enlarge.

the contemporary cradle2cradle home is designed for deconstruction and adaptability. it incorporates a central fireplace for cooking and warmth, operable night insulation, external louvers, and passive ventilation. it supplies its own food and energy, treats its own waste, and is composed of materials that maintain their integrity through multiple lifecycles or are returned to the earth for recycling; the c2c home improves the site on which it sits.

deconstructable and adaptable

N-S Section through home on a hill.

components of the home are designed for deconstruction using bolted connections and ties in lieu of welds and adhesives; movable hemp osb and fabric panels serve as interior partitions that are reconfigured to adjust to the changing needs of its inhabitants;

Adjustable and Thermal Exterior Skin

Enlarged wall section.

inhabitants have the ability to adjust the exterior and interior of the building to the changing needs of each season by opening hopper windows to allow warm southern air to flow through the structure; ceiling fans circulate air flow; adjustable & retractable exterior louvers control solar gain; retractable insulation curtain controls heat loss;

First Floor Plan

Second Floor Plan

Central Fireplace
a central hearth provides warmth and cooking space as well as gathering place

On-Site Food Production

Section through guestroom and greenhouse (at left) and living room and roof garden (right).

with several types of gardens on one site, the inhabitants have the ability to produce their own food; the rear yard and green house are partially shaded by a large existing deciduous tree while the front yard and south terrace are in full sun

on site water treatment
toilets, food waste, sinks, and showers drain to blackwater treatment facility within the structure to minimize waste disposal and provide a closed water supply;

on site energy generation
photovoltaic panels line the south facing cornice and roof monitors which feed hydrogen fuel cells stored on site; water pipes line the back of the solar panels passively heat water and carry away excess heat;

recyclable & non-toxic materials

concrete made with magnesium in lieu of Portland Cement is chemically benign; low temperature kiln produces 90% less CO2 that is then reabsorbed during setting;
corrugated Cor Ten steel fascia with bolted connections through 4" closed cell insulation provide a recyclable & reusable wall system;
weather protected certified wood built-up trusses with bio-degradable binder promote sustainable forestry;
hemp, extremely low in embodied energy, used liberally in the adjustable interior finishes, such as retractable insulation screens, cloth, and particle board partitions;
wool rugs line exposed stamped concrete to provide movable and deconstructable finishes

inspirationsi owe a debt of gratitude most importantly to william mcdonough, architect and author of cradle to cradle, the inspiration for this project. secondly and no less importantly, glen murcutt, pritzker prize winning architect from australia whom I have the privilege to hear speak at greenbuild this year. i drew upon many of his ideas and was inspired by his enthusiasm. can you tell i was raised in illinois? the project's form took on a prairie style look, however unintentionally. i owe a debt to my first architectural hero, frank lloyd wright. additionally, i referenced the work of rick cook from cook+fox, the firm for which i work. the architectural vocabulary of the project was no doubt influenced by the project i have worked on for the last six months, the historic front street development at new york’s south street seaport, designed by mr. cook