Natural Genius. Extraordinary natural inventiveness

The plant world, the animal kingdom, and the rules and equilibria of coexistence have become an extraordinary source of inspiration for defining new avenues of research and design regeneration. In fact, this trend focuses on the amazing natural world in its most ingenious and fascinating forms.

More than a purely esthetic dimension: this phenomenon draws not only visual inspiration from nature, but also investigates its functional, structural, and incredibly smart mechanisms. Flora, fauna, bacteria, micro and macro organisms to be explored, studied and creatively reinterpreted to produce surprising styles and designs full of poetry, mystery and wonder.

The projects fueling this trend belong to all fields of esthetics, from architecture to design, from fashion to pure art, and are oriented towards the search for solutions of coexistence and cooperation between humanity and nature, or more simply draw respectful inspiration from natural phenomena with striking and surprising effects, but above all they use science and sophisticated technologies to develop objects, products and systems capable of redesigning the relationship between humanity and its environment, not only esthetically.

The Puffer village

In the country of Benin, in Africa, the inhabitants of a village of houseboats are forced to live in a situation of constant danger as the rising waters of Lake Ganvie slowly lap at the wooden dwellings, slowly deteriorating them. In response, Iranian architect Sajjad Navidi launched an original project that is currently under development that draws inspiration from direct observations of nature, translating its fascinating responsiveness in dangerous situations with sustainable, smart architectural design. Like the pufferfish after which Puffer village is named, the independent homes are also designed to respond to potentially risky situations, such as high tide or heavy rains. In fact, just like that fish they have the ability to inflate to stay on top of the water, and then deflate when the water level has returned to normal. Two sensors connected to the houses monitor the weather and activate two different functions when triggered: filling the balloon-shaped skin fitted to all the houses with air using a fan placed underneath to elevate the dwelling in the event of a surge, or filling the balloon with water to strengthen it during storms, making the house more stable. When conditions are safe, the balloon flattens. Solar panels are also installed on the upper part.