Photo top: Virginia Hammond visits the Fly’s Eye Dome at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art—although not included in her thesis—an example of biomimicry in Northwest Arkansas. Intended to provide economical, efficient housing, the dome is constructed of lightweight fiberglass and features circular openings in a pattern similar to the lenses of a fly’s eye, allowing light and air to enter.

A line of iridescent bubbles nestles into the rocky terrain of an abandoned clay mine in Cornwall, England. The giant biomes create one of the world’s largest indoor rainforests, and their naturally occurring shape allows them to rest securely on suboptimal topography.

Virginia Hammond, an honors architecture student from Bentonville, Arkansas, found herself staring at the breathtaking structure on a short excursion while studying abroad in Italy. The project appealed to her love for nature and interest in sustainability. 

“Growing up, I spent a lot of time outdoors, and my mom loved teaching me and my sibling about nature.” Hammond recalls her immediate interest in the subject. “Looking to the past, architecture and nature used to be much more intertwined than they are now.”

Hammond became interested in architecture as a child. She would ask her parents to take photos of her in front of gothic churches and interesting buildings.

“We weren’t very religious,” she laughed. “My parents were curious about my interest in the buildings. I knew I wanted to be the person designing those one day.”

Hammond knew she wanted to pursue architecture as a career. As she compared architecture programs across campuses, she was most impressed by the U of A.

“Our program was on the rise, as opposed to staying stagnant,” Hammond said.

That push toward progress led her to pursue undergraduate research, and structures with a symbiotic relationship to nature motivated Hammond to learn more about bio-inspired design. The Eden Project combines architecture and biological engineering in a method called biomimetics, which derives stability and effectiveness from nature’s organic trial and error.

“Biomimetics is about translating biological principles into manmade technology and functioning like nature,” Hammond noted. “Biomimicry in design is about emulation of form, process or ecosystems. It is not purely about the aesthetics of making a form look like nature. It’s about how to make a manmade system that functions like nature.”

Hammond worked with Alison Turner, teaching assistant professor of architecture and director of community education, and Lisa Skiles, studio instructor of interior architecture, as her primary thesis mentors.

“Undergraduate students have few opportunities to spend considerable time on a topic of their own interest,” Turner said. “It’s important for honors students to learn how to take on large research. The process gives students a chance to think about how their interests help create innovation and how their contributions have value within the profession of architecture.”

Turner helped Hammond structure her research and provided thesis guidance, while Skiles mentored her in biomimicry and analyzing structures.

“My wish as an architect and mentor is to help illuminate the role of nature in the health of our planet and to promote cohabitation through nature-inspired design solutions,” said Skiles, citing Hammond’s determination to understand the context of the model organism and successful strategies and mechanisms of the ‘champion’ living organisms.

“By translating those functional lessons into relatable mechanisms, we are creating useful tools for the designer to smartly address human challenges. Virginia demonstrated an understanding of this with her process diagrams,” she added. “Virginia’s case studies highlight that intentionally applying lessons learned from nature expands our creativity and is worth pursuing for the good of our planet.”

Each structure was assessed based on intent, the systematic reason for emulation, (re)connection to nature, sustainability and positive impact. Hammond also created process diagrams of each structure that served a dual purpose: to illustrate how the architect interpreted biomimicry and to help her wrap her brain around the imitation of nature by stripping down the designs to only their biomimetic qualities.

“Considering nature as model, measure and mentor early on in the design process illustrates a designer’s intent to connect the users with nature,” Hammond wrote in her thesis. “Creating intentional design that considers the impact of nature both upon the design and vice versa is a necessity if we, as humans, want to change our current environmental conditions for the better.”

Hammond views biomimetics as a “valuable framework” for sustainable design innovation and cites the urgency for a new lens within building and construction. 

“A staggering statistic from the UN Environment Programme Global Alliance for Buildings and Construction in 2022 stated that buildings account for nearly 40% of carbon dioxide emissions,” Hammond shared.

Hammond wants her research to serve as a beginning for a larger project at the university.

“I wanted my research to be accessible,” she notes. “The next person studying biomimicry won’t need to do all the background research. I’ve done that. I hope someone reads my work and expands on it.”

Case Studies

Diagrams created by Hammond.

1 The Eastgate Center in Zimbabwe traded traditional heating and air and instead modeled its climate control after a termite mound.

2 The Council House 2 in Australia also mimicked a termite mound for heating and cooling but went one step further to model the structure’s façade after tree bark.

3 The Eden Project in England created lightweight bubbles that settled gently on the unsteady building site.

4 The Sahara Forest Project in Qatar conceptualized a technique for capturing and using seawater in their greenhouse inspired by how the Namibian fog-basking beetle uses the shape and pattern of its shell to condense humidity in its exoskeleton.

5 The Aguahoja Pavilion, shown at both the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and Smithsonian Design Museum, is biodegradable in water and was 3D printed using biomaterials like cellulose, chitosan, pectin and calcium carbonate – found in trees, insect exoskeletons, apples and bones.