Biomimicry examples in
Infrastructure

Plants transpire water through leaves. Applied to sanitation in developing world.

• ✿Inspired by: Vascular Plants (Transpiration)
• ⚡︎Function: Human waste enters soil chambers where anaerobic microbes break down solids into simple compounds. Aerobic zones near plant roots oxidise...
• ◉Where: USA

Ecosystem restoration using oyster reef structures to rebuild coastal habitats, improve water quality, and provide storm protection.

• ✿Inspired by: Oysters (Crassostrea virginica and other species)
• ⚡︎Function: Mimics oyster reef engineering to restore coastal ecosystems.
• ▣Company: GROW Oyster Reefs
• ◉Where: USA

Using mangrove root architecture to design living sea walls that provide coastal protection and habitat restoration.

• ✿Inspired by: Mangrove trees (Rhizophora species)
• ⚡︎Function: Mimics mangrove roots to provide coastal protection while creating habitat.
• ▣Company: Sydney Institute of Marine Science, Reef Design Lab
• ◉Where: USA

Coal mine land restoration using soil ecosystem principles to rebuild biologically productive landscapes from degraded mining sites.

• ✿Inspired by: Soil ecosystem organisms and plant communities
• ⚡︎Function: Mimics soil ecosystem succession to restore degraded lands.
• ▣Company: John Todd Ecological Design
• ◉Where: USA

This Indian village replicates six ecosystem services from local deciduous forest, with roofs that release monsoonal water as vapour, permeable pavements, tree-root-inspired foundations, and anthills-modelled rainfall management.

• ✿Inspired by: Deciduous forest ecosystem
• ⚡︎Function: Develop a village that provides human housing whilst maintaining or restoring the ecological function of the landscape it occupies.
• ▣Company: HOK with Biomimicry 3.8
• ◉Where: India

Flexible joint articulation absorbs seismic energy.

• ✿Inspired by: Vertebrate Limb Joints (Synovial Articulation)
• ⚡︎Function: Flexible dampers between bridge deck and columns allow horizontal movement during seismic shaking. Articulated expansion joints transmit...
• ◉Where: USA

A campus master plan for George Brown College in Toronto that uses slime mould algorithms to optimise transportation routes between multiple urban campus patches, revealing resilient redundancies in the network.

• ✿Inspired by: Physarum polycephalum (slime mould)
• ⚡︎Function: Slime moulds must efficiently transport nutrients between distributed food sources while maintaining network integrity if any pathway is...
• ▣Company: B+H Architects / Raphael Kay (Harvard)
• ◉Where: Toronto, Canada

A 3D printed steel bridge developed by MX3D that uses nature's bottom-up construction principles to build complex structures additively.

• ✿Inspired by: Nature's bottom-up building processes
• ⚡︎Function: Build complex infrastructure using additive manufacturing inspired by natural construction processes
• ▣Company: MX3D
• ◉Where: Netherlands

This Vietnamese waterfront development integrates rather than eradicates natural wetlands and river delta systems, allowing development and ecosystem services to coexist through locally-attuned system design.

• ✿Inspired by: River delta and wetland ecosystems
• ⚡︎Function: Provide residential development on floodplain while maintaining or restoring ecological function and achieving flood resilience.
• ▣Company: B+H Architecture & Biomimicry Frontiers
• ◉Where: Vietnam

A 600-hectare infrastructure master plan for an Indigenous Metis cultural centre in Alberta, Canada, using biomimetic strategies including bison-based regeneration and wetland restoration.

• ✿Inspired by: Bison grazing patterns and prairie wetland hydrology
• ⚡︎Function: Prairie ecosystems maintain productivity and resilience through the interaction of large grazing animals, fire, and hydrology, cycling nu...
• ▣Company: B+H Architects
• ◉Where: Alberta, Canada