Living Building Challenge Competition Event Tonight!

We're excited to view the entries in the first Living Building Challenge Collaborative: Chicago design competition at tonight's event! Hoping the winners were naturally inspired. Join us!

Event information:
https://www.facebook.com/events/584812271549493/

Biomimicry Chicago's Prairie Project Featured on the Metropolis Blog

Biomimicry Chicago's Prairie Project is featured on the Metropolis blog! Read all about it here.

Have you ever sat in your home or office and wondered what your part of the world looked like before your community was there? What ecosystems and organisms sat where you do now and how did they adapt and thrive through the same challenges that we face today?

Our built environment faces many challenges in adapting to a changing climate, from storm water management and drought tolerance to energy use optimization and eliminating waste. By recognizing that our communities and cities have been built on, and in most cases destroyed, land that was previously occupied we can we learn from our native ecosystems to design more resilient, well-adapted communities.

Read more at the Metropolis blog. 

Let us know what you think and contact us to get involved!

Spring Biomimicry Seminar Tomorrow!

Have you reserved your spot for our seasonal biomimicry seminar at the Chicago Center for Green Technology yet? Our topic for spring is dormancy. Come learn from the prairie how life has evolved to respond to freezing temperatures by slowing down and resting when available energy is low. And brainstorm opportunities to apply what you learn to your life, work, and communities!

Tomorrow! Tuesday, April 16th, at the Chicago Center for Green Technology; 6-8pm

Biomimicry Chicago's Amy Coffman Phillips and Josh Sin will facilitate an experience that (re)connects participants with the genius that surrounds us in order to learn a better way to design our world. This seminar is open to the public and is an extension of our AskPlace initiative, The Prairie Project. Register at the link below - the $10 fee goes to support the amazing work of the Chicago Center for Green Technology.

http://www.chicagogreentech.org/green-tech-u-classes/schedule-and-registration?eventId=607033&EventViewMode=EventDetails

"Stories from the Prairie" Wednesday night!

We're getting excited to present our "Stories from the Prairie" Wednesday night to the Living Building Challenge Collaborative: Chicago Design Competition Meeting! We'll tell a few stories and then give entrants a chance to play with their ideas in a Design Jam. We can't wait - will we see you there!?! RSVP to the LBCC Facebook page. 

Stories from the Prairie tonight!

Come be a part of our AskPlace working group to learn stories from the prairie and apply them to our buildings and cities! HOK Chicago 4:30 - 6:30 tonight. 60 East Van Buren. RSVP at our facebook page if we don't have your name: www.facebook.com/biomimicrychicago 

Learning from the Prairie

Want to know more about how learning from the prairie can influence the design of our buildings, cities, and infrastructure? Join us for a fun, interactive presentation and design jam on our Prairie Project (a biomimicry network AskPlace initiative). Wednesday, February 27th, 6pm - 8pm.  RSVP to the LBC Collaborative: Chicago's Facebook page.

Let's Meet! Wednesday, February 6th

Anyone interested in participating in our AskPlace Initiative (Prairie Project Genius of Place in partnership with the Living Building Challenge Collaborative Chicago) is welcome to join a jam session at HOK Chicago next Wednesday, February 6th, at 4:30pm. We'll go over some of our preliminary research, tell some good stories, and brainstorm possibilities for this exciting project. If you are new to our group, RSVP to colin.rohlfing@hok.com.  

AskPlace Working Group

Anyone in the Chicago area interested in participating in our AskPlace Working Group, we are holding a webex information call-in next Tuesday, January 15th at 12:30pm. Email Amy for call-in information. We're so excited to kick this initiative off and learn from the genius of the tallgrass prairie!

AskPlace Kickoff!

You've heard us talk about AskPlace, an initiative affiliated with the Biomimicry 3.8 Institute, that we're starting here in Chicago, learning from the genius of our place to inspire locally attuned sustainable design. Well, here is your chance to get involved! We're collaborating with the Living Building Challenge Collaborative: Chicago and their LBC design competition as a site to test out what we can learn and how this information can be applied. Contact us for more information and to sign up!