ST. LOUIS—HOK and the Biomimicry Guild have forged a first-of-its-kind alliance linking the natural and built environment. This exclusive relationship between one of the world’s largest architectural design firms and the only bio-inspired innovation company will integrate nature’s innovations in the planning and design of buildings, communities and cities worldwide.
Established by biologists Janine Benyus and Dr. Dayna Baumeister in 1998, Biomimicry is a science that studies nature’s best ideas and imitates these designs and processes to solve human problems. Biomimicry has inspired numerous commercial products and individual building projects, and the new alliance between the Biomimicry Guild and HOK has the potential to dramatically expand its scale and impact.
“Given the size, breadth and diversity of HOK’s design practice, our firm can significantly influence the future generation of architecture, planning and interior design projects around the world,” says HOK president Bill Hellmuth.
Addressing Buildings’ Impact
The built environment is the most fertile ground for biomimicry, according to Dayna Baumeister, PhD, co-founder of the Biomimicry Guild. “Buildings account for about 50 percent of total U.S. energy use, and our greatest collective impact will come from applying biomimicry to the planning and design of buildings, communities and cities—at every scale and in every region,” Baumeister says.
HOK is uniquely positioned to expand the awareness and application of biomimicry within the built environment, advancing its long-standing commitment to sustainable design and innovation. The firm contributed to the development of the U.S. Green Building Council’s original LEED rating system, has adapted LEED to new building types and regions, and authored the influential HOK Guidebook to Sustainable Design.
The alliance represents a natural progression in the relationship between HOK and the Biomimicry Guild, which began in 2004. Both organizations have collaborated on several projects, including HOK’s participation in the 2008 “City of the Future” competition, sponsored by The History Channel, to design the city of Atlanta in 2108. HOK and the Biomimicry Guild are currently working together to integrate biomimicry into the Lavasa hill station community under development near Pune, India, and are exploring potential project collaborations in Saudi Arabia and North America.
“Together with HOK, we are looking at what it means to be a bio-inspired company in the architecture space,” says Biomimicry Guild co-founder Janine Benyus. “And I think the answer to that question is really going to be something new in the world. Because making a bio-inspired product is one thing; making a bio-inspired city begins to change the world.”
Go to HOK and The Biomimicry Guild.
