What termites can teach architects?

Share: Termite mounds are proving to be an innovative source of inspiration to architects – could we benefit from using biomimicry to solve complex human challenges? If there’s one thing Mother Nature’s good at, it’s being efficient.

Why do architects study termite mounds?

Mound termites, native to Africa, South Asia, and Australia, are pros at building self-regulating structures that maintain oxygen levels, temperature, and humidity. And now human architects and engineers want to adapt that ingenuity for their own designs.

What innovative building design was inspired by termites?

BIOMIMETIC ARCHITECTURE: Green Building in Zimbabwe Modeled After Termite Mounds.

How intelligent are termites?

Termites are the oldest social animals, starting elaborate societies 200 million years ago—50 million years before ants and bees. Like ants and bees (described in previous posts Remarkable Bee Brain and Ant Intelligence Update), termites exhibit remarkable individual and group intelligence.

How did termites help us to ventilate a building?

These intricate structures preserve a steady level of atmosphere, humidity and temperature in the termite nests beneath them while enabling the exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide between the inside and outside of the mound. Gas exchange in buildings is hitched to bulk air flow between the inside and outside.

How do termites build their nests so tall?

The mound is constructed out of a mixture of soil, termite saliva and dung. The top of the mound consists of a central chimney surrounded by an intricate network of tunnels and passages. Air travels through the porous walls into a series of small tunnels until it reaches the central chimney and rises up.

What advantage is gained from the unique design of the Eastgate building in Zimbabwe?

The Eastgate Centre is a shopping center and office building located in Harare, Zimbabwe. Rather than using a traditional fuel-based air-conditioning system to regulate temperature within the building, the Eastgate Centre is designed to exploit more passive and energy-efficient mechanisms of climate control.

How do termite mounds keep cool?

We found that the links between the big pores allows air to “percolate” through the outer wall in the same way coffee is strained through a filter. This is key to ventilation and regulating temperatures. By creating tiny ventilation passages, the pores of the nests manage gas exchange in a similar way to human lungs.

Can termites learn?

It is generally agreed that individual termites are not particularly intelligent, lacking memory and the ability to learn. Put a few termites into a petri dish and they wander around aimlessly; put in forty and they start stampeding around the dish’s perimeter like a herd.

What was the IQ range of Lewis Terman’s termites?

After WWI, Lewis Terman, a psychologist at Stanford, decided to do a long-term study following a group of extraordinarily intelligent children, whose IQs averaged 140. He called them the “Termites.” Terman believed that no personal attribute was more important than a person’s IQ.