Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Burns School of Real Estate and Construction Management, Daniels College of Business,
University of Denver, Denver, CO 80208 United States
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Real Estate and Construction Management, Charlemagne, Denver, CO 80209 United States
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Abstract: As luxury tourism grows in popularity, travelers seek unique, diverse, exotic and environmentally friendly destinations. Architects, engineers and constructors committed to increasing energy efficiency
while raising the qualitative human experience of eco-tourism are using biomimicry to achieve their objectives.
Biomimicy, the art of mimicking the best of nature to achieve designs pleasing to the eye, high-energy efficiency
and minimum impact to the natural environment, allows the industry to create unique, aesthetically pleasing,
sustainable travel destinations of super quality. This research paper identifies the characteristics of biomimicry
and luxury tourism, how biomimicry design can significantly contribute to the development of attractive travel
destinations that provide eco-luxury, comfort, and unique travelers experience, and presents several cases to
demonstrate these concepts. The research concluded that biomimicry design and construction practices can
improve both the performance and attractiveness of facilities in an environmentally friendly manner. Understanding and implementing biomimicry adds value to owners facilities.
Keywords: Biomimicry, sustainable design, luxury tourism, hotel construction, energy efficiency
DOI: 10.7492/IJAEC.2015.006
1 INTRODUCTION
There are many reasons why various innovative strategies are undertaken by different industries, including:
a motivation to stay ahead, keeping up with trends,
being true to values such as quality, service to customers, and consideration of all stakeholders needs.
As concerns for the environment have increased, there
has been an increased interest in mitigate the deteriorating natural environment in order to reduce the
detrimental and catastrophic effects such deterioration
may cause.
Today, it is not surprising that all industries look to
sustainability as inspiration in their efforts to reduce
their impact on climate change, rising temperatures,
flooding, uncontrolled pollution, and other harms af-
2 BIOMIMCRY
Architectural design inspired and modeled from nature is gaining significantly in importance and recognition. This new practical approach is referred to as
In the third level/type of biomimicry, the designers incorporate natural/biological processes in the design of
the built environment. The design of the built environment is conceptualized to be similar to the processes
that take place in the natural world.
Examples natural-processes-inspired designs include
2.1.1 Natural Form-Inspired Design
the Pearce Eastgate Project inspired from termite
The environmental designers first conceptualized mounds that have the ability to produce natural heatbiomimicry from natures forms. The building design- ing and cooling and the William McDonoughs Green
ers seek inspiration and ideas from the natural world Tower inspired from the natural functions of a tree.
then interpret and apply it in the realm of design. The
objective of the natural-form-inspired design is to mim- 2.2 Principles of Biomimicry
ic or copy the appearance or feature of the natural environment in the physical design. However, this concept Biomimicry significantly changes the current views on
lacks and does not incorporate natures processes and built environment designs. It makes physical built enecosystem. Hence, researchers in this field proposed vironment closer to nature through using nature itto refer to this as biomorphic instead of biomimicry. self as a design. The application of biomimicry in the
Some examples of this natural-form-inspired design in- design of buildings significantly benefits the architects
clude the Herb Greenes Prairie Chicken in Norman, and sustainable designers. By integrating the princiOklahoma that was inspired from grassland natural ap- ples emulated and inherited from the natural world,
pearance, and the Beijing National Stadium landscape they can create a physical built environment that is
that was inspired from the shape of a giant upturned self-sustaining. The design can incorporate sustainbirds nest. Other examples include the Cactus build- able systems for energy use, water consumptions and
ing of Qatar and the vertical farm in New York City recycling of resources. Biomimicry includes three prinmodeled in the form of a dragonflys giant wings.
ciples: to use nature as a model, to use nature as standard measure, and to use nature as a mentor.
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from the natural world and then apply those concepts in the realm of building designs. The purpose is to
create replicas of their natural models and most importantly to create self-sustaining buildings (Reed 2004).
Some examples of using nature as a model include
the Beijing National Stadium and the Eastgate Center
in Zimbabwe. The Beijing National Stadium modeled
from a giant birds nest not only for creating an aesthetically pleasing design but also for improving the
sustainability of the design. As inspired from nature,
the design has less wasted material. The key sustainable attributes of the stadium include allowing sunlight
to filter through to feed the natural grass field, natural
ventilation, and the stadiums panels are self-cleaning
and durable (Rogers et al. 2008). The Eastgate Center,
modeled after African termite mounds, uses a natural
air-conditioning process similar to that used in termite
mounds and is able to maintain consistent temperature (Reed 2004). Another example of the application
of using nature as a model is the Cactus Building in
Qatar, which was inspired from the ability of cacti to
survive in desert conditions.
3 LUXURY TOURISM
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rants, casinos, and resorts are in many cases considered as tourist destinations themselves because of the
unique features that are integrated in their designs.
The purpose of which is to provide another attraction
while providing the comfort and luxury that the customers are looking for in their travel experience. The
future of the luxury accommodation facilities and designs are gradually changing, from traditional to sustainable. Hence, buildings are designed in a way that
make them function like a living organism in a natural
environment that has the ability to supply and balance
its resources.
An example of a project that function like a living
organism while offering luxury accommodations is the
proposed urban/vertical farm in New York City. The
project is inspired and modeled after the wings of a giant dragonfly. The building is going to house offices, research laboratories, housing, and communal areas that
will be located between the orchards, farms, and production rooms. The design of the project will emulate
the form, processes and ecosystem of a real farmland.
This gives travelers a unique experience of living and
working in a real agricultural area/farm while being in
a big urban city (Kain 2011).
Another example is the Kepos Eco Hotel, which
draws inspiration from the ability of a living environment to support life, produce energy, recycle and recover resources and materials. The best feature of this
biomimic architecture is its ability to absorb solar and
wind energy through open pores (Jolly 2010).
The first step helps the hospitality developers and designers to both define their short term and long-term
aim. It would then encourage them to develop a plan
or a design that most likely contribute to the protection and conservation of the sites natural and unique
features. This step also considers the context of the
project or the place. It includes the economic condition, social setting, current political climate, natural
environment setting and cultural considerations.
The second step helps in identifying the stakeholders
involved in planning, managing, implementing of sustainable activities. The third step is used to determine
the existing studies relevant to the project for the purpose of acquiring information. This information would
be used as a basis to identify the current trends in
sustainable tourism. The function of the fourth step is
threefold: It identifies the special or unusual characteristic/feature of the place or environment that attracts
travelers and tourists (i.e. natural value, cultural value, etc.); it also establishes how well its special values
are recognized and communicated and establishes interpretation of the future use of special/unique values
in tourism.
The fifth step helps in determining and understanding the key issues affecting the place or the sustainability of the destination. The sixth step further analyzes,
clarifies and prioritizes those issues. One of the best
tools that can be utilized in analyzing is the SWOT analytical method. This method analyzes the strengths,
weaknesses, opportunities and threats in achieving sustainable tourism. The goal of the seventh step is to set
objectives/principles to guide the actions to be taken.
The eighth step draws ideas and recommends options
that would most likely enhance tourism in a sustainable way. The ideas could include changing the structural design of the facility to cater to and provide for
the demands of tourists. The ninth step includes the
development of actions in order to implement the identified ideas, proposals and/or options. The tenth and
final step develops the statement of the project direction, which includes the identified key tourism assets,
issue and actions, and the future plan.
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4 CASE STUDIES
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nature, life (socio-cultural aspect) and economy (transparency). Figure 5 shows a day time view of the hotel
site.
Construction of the hotel began in 2009 with a
planned completion date and occupancy in 2011. The
hotel will be built in the hillside and is partly under-
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ered an attraction itself because of its unique appear- 4.4 Proximity Hotel
ance and processes drawn from nature (Sweet 2010).
Figure 6 shows an evening view of the landscape.
The Proximity Hotel located in Greensboro, North
Carolina, as shown in Figure 7, is considered one of
the most environmentally sustainable luxury hotels in
United States to date. The hotel designed by Dennis
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can detect heat and smoke and can adjust its fan speed
to accommodate the load. The hotel also use recycled
and local materials for its furniture, (e.g. tabletops
were made from recycled walnut). The hotel also provides plenty of outdoor terrace dining areas to provide
natural light and fresh air (Wright 2010).
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REFERENCES
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Planning a Sustainable
Future for Tourism, Heritage and the Environment. Australian Government. Available at
<http://www.environment.gov.au/>.
GreenerBuilding Staff (2010). New Burger King
Restaurant Powered by Wind and Solar Energy.
Available at <http://www.greenbiz.com/>.
Jolly, A. (2010). MRA Designs Kepos Eco Hotel Embraces Natural Environment. Available at
<http://www.ecofriend.com/>.
Kain, A. (2011). The Dragonfly: A Giant winged
Vertical Farm for New York City. Available at
<http://inhabitat.com/>.
Klein, L. (2009). A Phenomenological Interpretation
of Biomimicry and Its Potential Value for Sustain-
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