Group forest: final posters

Group Marine: reflections after presentation

Yesterday we presented both our posters and also the choreography we created to possibly gain further understanding of the jellyfish. Of course we also took part of the other groups presentations. 

It has been a very interesting week - not least has the possibility to try to grasp such a technical issue as biomimicry through such... soft investigative methods. Although I believe that at least my group found this week the hardest one of these last three ones. I am not sure whether it was a result of us ending up with quite a complex animal to understand - and therefore also to implement in design - or to biomimicry being a complex issue also seen at a larger scale. One thing we were discussing was whether it would have been easier to first define a problem to solve, and then try to find the solution in nature, but we were quite uncertain regarding that. Personally I believe that one of my problems was that it took me such a long time to grasp how the movements of the jellyfish actually work - if we had continued working for maybe three days more the implementation part would have been many times easier. 

Anyway; below are our two posters to be found. The first one mainly focusing on the biology of the jellyfish, and the second one a - very brief, and playful - biomimicry implementation: Jelly-Jet City. If one would treat the issue more seriously and developed it further maybe one would have focused on as an example submarines using this low-pressure technique. 

RAINFOREST_5 step poster and instractions for experience

RAINFOREST_

Final poster

Instructions for experience

- experience is based on the idea that person who is going through the instalation is the light which struggles through the specific layers in the rainforest
- experience ends with reaching the final point which is begonia

Group Marine: afternoon update

A quick update regarding our current work: the posters of the "Jelly Jet"-project are almost ready for printing, and a movie to use during the Jelly-choreography is in the making. Also a narrative for the choreography has been written. 

Tomorrow we will all interpret jellyfish. If someone wish to practice in advance one can have a look at the video below!

Movie retrieved 2018-02-01 from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFLJSITYf-8&t=8s

Group Marine - some more on the movements of the jellyfish

Since it's a really interesting subject I wanted to try to develop a little more regarding the movements of the jellyfish, and the new research that has been done on the subject. 

As stated in the previous post the new findings done by scientists at Stanford University suggests that the jellyfish pulls itself forward rather than - as one has believed before - pushes its way through the water. This "pulling" is done through the creation of a region of low pressure in the water in front of the jellyfish. 

The scientists at Stanford have for the first time measured the pressure that swimming animals exercise on the surrounding water, and according to them this has resulted in a view on efficient swimming much different from the conventional one. They hope that this shift of focus - from creating high pressure for propulsion rather than low pressure - will make large difference when developing more effective submarines. 

Low pressure is most commonly created through a rotation of the body, in order to create swirling vortexes with low-pressure areas at their center (and as far as I understand this is exactly what the jellyfish does). Apparently it also requires less energy to create this kind of propulsion rather than the alternative involving high pressure. 

The Stanford team believe that this discovery, showing that both jellyfish and lamprey (a jaw-lacking, worm-like fish) use this low-pressure method might change our previous assumption that generating high pressure is essential in order to achieve effective mobility. 

Definitely a highly interesting finding!

Source: Stanford News Service. (2015). Stanford engineers help discover the surprising trick jellyfish use to swim. Retrieved 2018-02-01 from https://news.stanford.edu/pr/2015/pr-propulsion-lamprey-trick-110315.html

Group Marine - day 4

Yesterday we had Butoh training basically the whole day. Personally I found it relaxing and also very interesting. What seemed to be the main purpose, due to my experience, was experiencing the world with other senses than pure eyesight. It was quite amazing walking around in the Architecture building blindfolded for quite a while, since the other senses became so much more attendant than they usually are. The hearing improved, and feeling the different textures of the walls and floor with ones hand was pure beauty. Also it seemed very possible to sense whether one was in a large or smaller space; both due to sounds, but also due to... the sense of the air? It was a really nice experience.

Today we are working on finishing our presentation posters, and also developing a choreography inspired by our chosen animal; the jellyfish. We have booked a room that we will use during the performance, and are working on putting a video together that we will run during it. In many ways it is an unusual way of working for everyone in the team, but it also feels quite... playful and free? Hopefully it will be fun. 

Also, according to Anna-Maria one of the goals of this performance is to try to gain a deeper understanding of the chosen animal (in our case the jellyfish) through movement. It will be interesting to see if it will deepen our understanding for its biology. 

The added picture is our current version of our first poster, and it aims to describe the moon jellyfish's existance within the ecosystem - the macro scale -, its anatomy, its behaviour and also its movements. It's also this last aspect that we've chosen to pay our main focus to: the movement. 

Interesting enough we found out that except from at many times using the oceans' currents to transport the jellyfish is also the world's most effective swimmer. Also it seems like much of the research done on how it moves have been done in later years; actually mainly during this decade. Before one has just assumed that the jellyfish is just pushing itself forward by filling its bell with water and then pushing it out again - but actually new research shows that it rather pulls itself forward (we have read quite some about it, but is's difficult to grasp). Very interesting and also possibly utterly useful in the technology of tomorrow. 

The video below shows areas of low pressure (blue) and high pressure (red) when the jellyfish swims. This pioneering resarch on the movement of the jellyfish has been done by a team of scientists at Stanford, led by John Dabiri. 

RAINFOREST_4 step city-architecture and rainforest-begonia

RAINFOREST_

Comparisom between rainforest and the city

 

How it can works in the high rise city as f.e. Shangai 

 

RAINFOREST_2 step first diagram

RAINFOREST

Work in progress_1 PART

RAINFOREST_3 step research of specific specie_Begonia

RAINFOREST_

Begonia Pavonina

- https://www.sott.net/article/332249-Blue-leaf-begonias-use-quantum-mechanics-to-survive-low-light-environments
- https://www.nature.com/articles/nplants2016162
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=acwh9zRJIeg
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chTP76Py5OU&t=280s

RAINFOREST_1 step general research

RAINFOREST_

Rainforest as system

http://www.tropical-rainforest-facts.com/Tropical-Rainforest-Layer-Facts/Tropical-Rainforest-Floor-Layer-Facts.shtml
- 4 layers with different light conditions in each of it

Rainforest light gaps 

- when tree falls - opening in the forest canopy
- maintaining diversity of species
- small disturbance in the ecosystem
- increased animal activity

Green Iguana

http://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Iguana_iguana/#ecosystem_roles
- interesting skin
- special "eye" behind the normal eye that recognize enemy from above - thermo vision

Glass frog

https://www.britannica.com/animal/glass-frog
https://featuredcreature.com/glass-frog-looks-like-glowing-constellation-rainforest/
https://www.zmescience.com/ecology/animals-ecology/glass-frog-transparent-43242/
https://www.wired.com/2016/09/glass-frog-doesnt-care-can-see-guts/
https://www.sciencenews.org/article/glass-frog-wears-its-heart-all-see?mode=magazine&context=193345 
- translucency of the frog

Clubed Begonia 

https://asknature.org/strategy/leaves-focus-light/#.Wm8yj-fkWbg
- lens-shaped epidermal cells to increase the absorption of diffuse light

Design sketches on ideas of an insulated tent inspired from the fur of a squirrel.

Work in progress!

Mapping how squirrels in the Siberian forest deal with thermal challenges.

Web articles on Glass Frog. 


https://featuredcreature.com/glass-frog-looks-like-glowing-constellation-rainforest/
https://www.zmescience.com/ecology/animals-ecology/glass-frog-transparent-43242/
https://www.wired.com/2016/09/glass-frog-doesnt-care-can-see-guts/
https://www.sciencenews.org/article/glass-frog-wears-its-heart-all-see?mode=magazine&context=193345

The glowworm, step 1 in Chalmers Crash Course

We have just started a week long workshop exploring the subject of Biomimicry. Every group get to research a certain environment and a chosen species.

We have the cave & the glowworm.

The Glowworms is an interesting source of inspiration because:
1. They create their own light (supercool!)
2. They live and prosper in a rough environment
3. They are beautiful
4. They are organized as a group (go teamwork!)

How is the light created? Why? What are the conditions that are needed for the glowworm to live and achieve this?

We don't know the answers yet, but we are working on it!

Kind Regards,
Cave Group,
Students from Chalmers Masterprogram Architecture and Cityplanning Beyond Sustainability

MARINE

Coral Reefs and the jellyfish

Links:

https://teara.govt.nz/en/corals-anemones-and-jellyfish

https://www.similandivecenter.com/infopage/coral-science

https://rd.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12526-012-0110-y

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/275719893_Lessons_from_a_Coral_Reef_Biomimicry_for_Structural_Engineers

https://cleantechnica.com/2014/12/10/jellyfish-barge-biomimicry-best/
http://dabirilab.com/


Facts Jellyfish:

Implementation in Architecture
https://inhabitat.com/nyu-researchers-create-a-superlight-flying-jellyfish-drone-that-flaps-into-the-air/
https://www.archdaily.com/569709/jellyfish-barge-provides-sustainable-source-of-food-and-water
https://www.archdaily.com/465005/jellyfish-house-wiel-arets-architects
https://inhabitat.com/these-floating-jellyfish-gardens-purify-polluted-water-and-air-while-growing-food/
https://inhabitat.com/elegant-jellyfish-inspire-research-in-propulsion-and-energy-technology/
https://inhabitat.com/ph-conditioner-floating-jellyfish-skyscrapers-combat-air-pollution-while-producing-fresh-water/
https://inhabitat.com/jellyfish-like-underwater-orb-lights-react-to-the-sounds-of-the-city/
https://inhabitat.com/3d-printed-aquaponic-homes-grow-their-own-veggies-and-fish/