HOK and Biomimicry Guild Forge Alliance for Bio-Inspired Design Excellence
by Brian Merchant, Brooklyn, New York 
on 09.21.08
Image courtesy of Landscape + Urbanism
HOK and Biomimicry Guild Unite
It’s official: HOK, one of the world’s largest architectural design firms, has joined an alliance with the Biomimicry Guild, the world’s premier bio-inspired innovation company. The result? A greatly heightened, cooperative effort to mainstream bio-inspired design, and new collaborations on a number of intriguing international projects—some incipient, some already under way. And that’s just the beginning.
HOK + Biomimicry = Bio-Inspired, Sustainable Buildings
HOK and the Biomimicry Guild have worked together on a number of projects since 2004—they collaborated on the “City of the Future” competition, sponsored by the History Channel. But now, a whole slew of projects await the team—the first of which is incorporating biomimicry into the Lavasa hill station community in India. Further projects are currently being discussed for North America and Saudi Arabia.
"We believe biomimicry will not only help us significantly reduce the environmental impact of our projects, but also has the potential to help define a whole new sustainable standard for our profession," says HOK Sustainable Design Director Mary Ann Lazarus.
This innovative partnership could lead to major advances in bio-inspired architecture, and it heralds a major advancement for biomimicry. As Janine Benyus, the co-founder of Biomimicry Guild says, "Together with HOK, we are looking at what it means to be a bio-inspired company in the architecture space. 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."
More on Biomimicry:
TreeHugger Picks: Biomimicry in Product Design
Constructal Theory: Introduction to the Inverse of Biomimicry
Follow @TreeHugger on Twitter & get our headlines with @TH_rss!
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HOK needs a landscape architect then. How can they do biomimicry without a landscape architect? Obviously, they should hire me right away, even though I only have two years of experience and don't have my license yet.
What building is that in the picture?
Ehem, TreeHugger. The building in the picture is neither green nor innovative. This is Emonika, a transport terminal being built in Slovenia.
The building in the picture is Emonika - a new railway&bus station + multipurpose complex in Ljubljana, Slovenia.
Check out: http://www.emonika.si/en
Thanks for making the connection between biomimicry and landscape architecture. We're already there. The HOK Planning Group has over 175 professionals office all over the world - Toronto, NY, DC, St. Louis, SF, Hong Kong, Singapore, Dubai, etc. There are 107 landscape architects, 40 urban designers, 8 architects and other support. Visit us a http://www.hok.com/landscapearchitecture/
Cheers, namaste, salud, zai-jiam, ciao......