Case study

Living Building Challenge Collaborative: Chicago Design Competition 2013

We are particularly proud of the work we did for the Living Building Challenge Collaborative’s design competition in 2013. We convened a working group of local practitioners and interested parties to design a 2-hour Design Jam where we told “Stories from the Prairie” and used our original brainstorming materials inspired by local organisms and ecosystems to inspire almost 30 participants. A small sample of the almost 50 brainstorming cards we have created so far:

This process inspired some interesting insights:

Water and material resource sharing inspired by mycorrhizal fungi

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Building integrated, multi-surface water collection inspired by liverworts

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Self-renewing building materials inspired by the argiope spider

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Solar panel orientation inspired by sunflower seed heads

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Fire resistance inspired by oak tree bark