Desert Blueprint (Biomimicry Inspired)

EMPATHIZE

The competition brief required us to use inspiration from biomimicry and AI only, to prepare the proposal. As a team of three, we looked at the desert ecosystem to propose an intervention. The Thar Desert, a region marked by intense heat and severe water scarcity, poses a significant challenge to the communities residing along the India-Pakistan border. With annual precipitation levels as low as 120-240mm and high evaporation rates, securing stable water supplies is crucial for sustaining life.

  DEFINE

Thus, this project seeks innovative solutions to combat the harsh conditions and improve the livelihoods of Thar Desert inhabitants. Primarily DALL-E was used for image generation of the design with multiple iterations, followed by post production.

  IDEATE

Inspired by biomimicry, our architecture draws from nature's water-harvesting and cooling strategies seen in agaves, thorny devil lizards, darkling beetles, and desert snails. This biomimetic approach maximizes water capture efficiency and addresses water scarcity challenges in diverse environmental conditions pertaining to hot arid regions.

Illustration of the characteristics inspired by nature that governed the design

Some iterations on DALL-E before arriving at the final form...

  DESIGN  

As a result, the design offers the following:

1. Collecting Water: The structure's roof becomes a canopy with a fine-mesh surface, coated with smooth, waxy leaf-like materials to prevent water loss and capture high surface area fog droplets at night. The concave form of the canopy imitates the actions of a darkling beetle, trapping and condensing fog, while also serving as a funnel, inspired by desert succulents, guiding harvested water to reservoirs for distribution.

2. Transporting Water: To address humidity control and water extraction, the buildings incorporate a network of grooves and channels inspired by the thorny devil lizard's capillary action-based skin structure. This system efficiently harnesses water from the atmospheric air, guiding it to reservoirs and contributing to indoor climate control through the walls of the structure.

3. Prevention of Water Loss: Furthermore, material characteristics inspired by the Namib desert beetle, desert cacti, and devil lizard skin are employed, featuring bump-riddled surfaces of hydrophobic and hydrophilic material like darkling beetle that lowers the temperature to enable condensation, unique ridges like devil lizard, and slick coatings to guide water droplets and white reflective surfaces like a desert snail for optimal collection and reflecting heat.

Incorporating the bio-inspired characteristics into the design

The Design in Context; the image was produced primarily using DALLE with some post production

Envisioning the building to be a community centre, the images above depict some interior spaces like the co-working space (on the left) and a childcare centre ( on the right).