Lichen as Biomimicry Inspiration?

As a follow on from the previoius tutorial, I revisited the site themes that I had identified during my intial site visits. The themes identified were:

• Forgotten


• Transition Space


• Disconnected


• Dark, Damp, Humid


• Lack of Identity


• Dominated

Considering this against the key concept words of IDENTITY, CONNECTION, MEMORY GATEWAY, SYMBOLISM, RESPONSIVE allowed a me to create a ten second narrative to help guide the conceptual development of my project. The narrative:


A building growing out of the site, forging its own identity and creating a relationship with site users which provokeds memory and a sense of place.

Based on this concept, lichen was identified as a possible biomimicry exemplar as it grows out of site, creating its own identity from nothing. It also creates a great relationship and connection with the site on which it grows.


Research was conducted on LICHEN to see whether it may be a suitable exemplar.


The image below is of a moss carpet bathroom mat.


This bathroom carpet is made of imputrescible foam called plastazote. Each cell welcomes a piece of moss (ball moss, Island moss, forest moss). The humidity of the bathroom and the drops flowing from the body, water the mosses. This vegetable carpet procures a great feeling to your feet.

This concept may prove worthy for further study in relation to the construction and design of Green Walls on building facades.

Some further research on lichens provided the following information:

• Close partnership between a fungus and an algae


• Two types of organism in the partnership are so clossely interwoven that they appear as a single individual.


• Distinct form - many different shapes and types


• Algae can survive by themselves. The specific fungi in lichens – cannot survive on their own


• Fungal partner forms the main body of the lichen, with algal cells either scattered among the fungal hyphae or arranged in a layer just below the upper surface of the lichen


• Colonise some of the most inhospitable habitats on earth. In less extreme climate – inhabit just about any solid surface – rocks, walls, trees, concrete.


• Successful due to their partnership. Algae provides the fungus with some of the organic nutrients which it needs. In return, the water, nutrients and gases absorbed from the environment by the fungus are shared with the algae. Fungus plays a pivotal role in providing a physical structure to shelter the algae from excess sunlight and in particular, water loss. SYMBIOSIS – both partners benefit


• Variety of different growth forms


• Lichens reproduce wither by tiny parts of the lichen breaking off and growing somewhere else or by the fungal section producing spores.


• Lichens absorb water and minerals from rainwater and directly from the atmosphere over their entire surface area.

The following quote from David Attenborough also seemed relevant to the warmer climate of Brisbane.

Lichens can also tolerate heat which would desiccate and kill most plants. They shrivel but remain alive and, when the opportunity comes, they take up moisture at extraordinary speed and in great quantities, absorbing as much as half their dried body weight in a mere ten minutes." (Attenborough 1995:217)

The image below is a typical cross section of lichen. This may provide inspiration for roof or wall structure, building layout or facade treatments.

Lichen has already been used as inspiration for architecture by Kate Van Horn, from Cal Poly Pomona. She is designing a Mars Colony inspired by the growth patterns of Lichen. By looking at different methods of their growth, reproduction, and aggregation as they occur in nature, she has developed a structural system that mimics Lichen on a more profound and fundamental level. Lichen can be described as composite organisms consisting of a symbiotic association of a fungus with a photosynthetic partner, usually either a green algae or a cyanobacterium. The following images are images from her design.