Michael Pawlyn: Using nature's genius in architecture

www.ted.com How can architects build a new world of sustainable beauty? By learning from nature. At TEDSalon in London, Michael Pawlyn describes three habits of nature that could transform architecture and society: radical resource efficiency, closed loops, and drawing energy from the sun.
TEDTalks is a daily video podcast of the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world's leading thinkers and doers give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes. TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design, and TEDTalks cover these topics as well as science, business, development and the arts. Closed captions and translated subtitles in a variety of languages are now available on TED.com, at www.ted.com/translate.
Follow us on Twitter
/ tednews
Checkout our Facebook page for TED exclusives
/ ted

[@theinternet1424]

A perfect example of the kind of lectures we need today.

[@AnaVerona_]

2020

[@cashi4225]

2021

[@sayyidsharafu7026]

2023

[@NikosAntzoulatos]

2024

[@abhishekbadani6803]

i think this video needs a lot more sharing and a lot more likes

[@vinayseth1114]

+Abhishek Badani Agreed!

[@RoseBudpony1]

Abhishek Badani it has waaaay more likes.

[@TheTuber955]

Architecture would be a whole new thing if every thought about it like he does!

[@SikhiArt]

I like how he's talking about being humble and obtaining wisdom from nature.

[@stone7327]

This is exactly the kind of thing we need. This design philosophy leads to structures that are efficient, sustainable, environmentally friendly, and still very effective at carrying out their purpose. Praise God for how incredible a Creator He is!

[@malirabbit6228]

Connor Hoffman Amen, brother! Amen!

[@toddline]

Thank you! for giving credit where….

[@XxInlalaland22]

this is incredible, what he's talking about is my dream

[@SpiderWaffle]

possibly my favorite TED talk of all time

[@endymcg]

I like how he puts it "a challenge to our ingenuity". Great talk, thumbs up.

[@JUNIMUSICAS]

Knowledge is power. We study so that we can make the world a better place. Once we transform it in a way that we're killing it, we gotta stop, look, think about it and study again for new solutions to new problems.

[@Methor8]

this is exactly why I love and study biology , we can learn so much from nature

[@TheDenisedrake]

Fabulous! It's great to hear such positive language about environmental issues! Nature is so amazing. It's looks as if all those systems were designed that way.

[@shreyasraut6224]

perfect.....absolutely perfect....

[@hardleecure]

it's a total shame that we as humans don't get along enough to make things like was just seen in the video more abundant. It's brilliant and needed.

[@guitarplayer1293]

absolutely brilliant, we need more people working on things like these that's why i subscribed to TED, thx for the video!!!

[@JornikHendrix]

one of the shortest presentation of ideas on TedTalks. I believe in nature as does he, as we all should. Reconnect and we shall live prosperously. Really inspiring!!! thumbs up

[@ZeroRacer]

I have to say, this advertising they do at the end actually got me to listen to all of it. I just spent the entire time reading comments and talking to a friend about the video while this commercial was on.

[@dismutased]

Brilliant! Iove these types of talks!

[@MsGnor]

Thanks Michael - awesome talk.

[@PolytheisticDeities]

this was one of the best TED videos in a while... WOW

[@Zolipants]

this kind of material kids need i schools

[@kokofan50]

One thing I love about this is that he doesn't say we have give stuff but have more, do it better, and chaeper. Going green or your choice of word should not be about giving up things but getting newer better smarter things

[@MarkDHead]

this is what we soo much need in these times.

[@Bear-zx9fl]

one of the best talks ever.

[@EndureFocusEngageDie]

one of the best vids on youtube for sure.

[@MrFEA21]

the best talk I have ever seen

[@BrilIiance]

Truly inspired. Amazing.

[@smokeyjon2000]

Straight up, this was a great talk

[@DuttonWebb]

Best talk in a while. Perhaps I see my own career

[@MrReiniC]

Its all sounds great, but i would love to know how much energy it requires to produce ETFE... and if the waste produced when creating it is higher than that of glass. Because if its more than glass... then it defies the whole thesis and point of being sustainable.

[@branimirmarold7343]

respect!

[@thumbprint7150]

thank you; interesting and uplifting

[@sandeepcoepcivil]

A Good TED Talk after a loooong time..

[@zydomason]

very interesting, more talks like that, TED

[@dogdammit6]

Very nice! Reminds me of Jacque Fresco's future city ideas in the Venus Project.

[@saraswuati]

MINDBLOWING thank you!!!

[@rezashishehgaran]

I just loved it! ❤️💐 Would be great to collaborat with more people!

[@doloppost]

Great TED talk!

[@Jotto999]

Now that's a TedTalk! I keep hearing great things about biomimickery. Humanity should gain lots of progress from this. To see the Sahara being reforested during my lifetime would blow me away. I'm confident humanity will make it through the next few decades, save for a cataclysmic event, like a meteorite (or WMD misuse). The amount of innovations and discoveries currently underway give me loads of optimism.

[@allurbase]

great talk!!!

[@saultube44]

Eloquent, direct to the point, simple yet fool of wisdom, the guy is spectacular and thanks so much for mentioning my Country Bolivia with such a great connotation, because is humiliating and unfair that my Country is referenced only as fine cocaine producer, my Country is a normal one.

[@Truthiness231]

@gaiagale I concur completely; after seeing Paul's speech at TED on Six Ways Fungi Can Save The World, I became an amateur mycologist almost overnight and have learned to take care of quite a few species now. It's a lot like gardening but with a lot more water and sterility, and the payoff are foods that taste like animals but have the health benefits we typically assume were plant-only. Shiitake and oyster mushrooms are fantastic cooked; haven't had the shaggy mane, but I think I will now ^.^

[@Aresftfun]

We need to put this effect into planning. Right now.

[@silvercoin1111]

this was a fantastic talk...just like watching young Jacque Fresco:) great ideas!

[@txdmsk]

What a fine talk.

[@TheAvianos]

great talk

[@turuanu]

Way to go, Lex Luthor! Nice video, inspiring and full of hope.

[@shravangattu5783]

🙏Thank you.

[@IridescentAudio]

brilliant and exciting ideas

[@worryphree]

@volound I'm not sure how much I agree with behe's particular version of "Intelligent design," but I must admit, nature seems pretty darned intelligent!

[@Convergentassembly]

Finally - a TED video where I understood the time line of the Rolex Watch.

[@triciahingpit8310]

AMAZING..

[@majinspy]

@lockcraw Indeed, and this is the type of specific proposal that should be looked at. Of course, I'm sure there are a myriad of problems, but its something worth fiddling with. I would much prefer to hear something down-to-earth like that than something that seems to suggest we could absorb even a 1/10th of a percent of the total solar energy that bathes our planet.

[@TEMPproductions]

I'm trying to find a second like button because this is an amazing TED talk

[@roidroid]

@PVanderston black both absorbs and radiates heat faster than any other colour. at night there is no sunlight to absorb, so the black just radiates heat away from itself very efficiently.

[@robelzeray100]

WOW, I'm leaning to biomimicry for my barch thesis and this is a big motivation

[@skelotom]

Hope your thesis went well! I have mine this year.

[@ivankrizic9180]

Good job mate!

[@msMaliia]

brilliant! finally.

[@MotionArtist3D]

Fantastic!

[@Aresftfun]

I was going to say that using carbon nanotubes, like the Japanese plan on doing with the pyramid(shimizu), but I think this is much more cost-efficient. Great work!

[@boriszlatkovdesign]

Interesting examples

[@semaJ455]

Inspiring!

[@harishperumalla]

Awesome!

[@KuraSourTakanHour]

I would ammend "solar" economy to renewable economy, there are many eco-friendly energy-gen technologies

[@808mauna]

Da vinci and Antoni Gaudi used nature and incorporated it into their architecture,inventions and art. We could learn so much from Nature... 1:00

[@kokofan50]

@Silverstarlightt Its not the big companies that would fight this its the curnt system. A closed loop's efficiency would let it under cut the curnt liner system. In some US cities the start of a closed loop system has begone. A closed loop works on both large and small sacle.

[@bdijkstra1982]

Does anyone know where that animation of earth's photosynthetic activity came from? Is it available somewhere?

[@TomekTQ]

@dootzky I think I've been watching some alternate universe version of TED where most talks are pretty interesting.

[@mrtn474]

wow that was awesome... i need a watch.. lol

[@roidroid]

@MatsMinds They could be made of Mylar. Much like the inflated plastic film roof of the biodome. also: concentrated-solar furnaces can melt glass to make mirrors.

[@walkingmonument]

Weird long Rolex ad at the end

[@PANMESTIGUS]

Ill be working with Paul in July

[@naybobdenod]

Brilliant

[@kimmytoday4396]

good job

[@Urglab]

@HashDylan Agreed.

[@k2w1788]

What kind of waste is produced from ETFE and is there a way to utilize the waste in some way. Or do you know of a possible alternative to ETFE?

[@TehMr]

we still are a part from nature,we just want to develop our own nature.

[@DarienChen]

Inspiring!!! :)

[@VeganSemihCyprus33]

Resource Based Economy, we need that, the rest will come.

[@Truthiness231]

@gaiagale Yup, I concur completely. That's one way in which our technology can account for; until we start building things on the microscopic scale, much of the rest of the technology we can squeeze from this method will have to wait. Fungi, for example: Paul Stamets is currently pushing for the use of mushrooms that eat "waste" (some microbes and fungi can even eat nuclear waste and nasty hydrocarbons); we don't have to re-engineer anything to make them work, we just put them on site.

[@Neanderthalcouzin]

!) Radical increases in resource efficiency. 2) Closed-loop system. 3) Solar economy. Lets get to it!

[@imlivinitupniggaz]

Nice "timing" for the rolex watch commercial.

[@SpinyNormanDinsdale]

The Fremen of Arakris would be so proud of this!

[@thewinematcher]

Wow... this guy is genius. If only people didn't suck so much we could actually go ahead with this...

[@danikajharris]

my teacher is making me watch this.

[@Pianofy]

I would want to contribute to this. Where to begin? Does anyone know?

[@Melki]

I cried halfway watching this

[@HamsterPants522]

These are great ideas, but how do we make it happen? In an old TED speech given by Bjorn Lomborg, he spoke about how to prioritize our focuses in saving the world. He made so much sense, but once again it's not as easy as just talking about it. How can people contribute to such a cause? Where would they look?

[@roidroid]

@RickeyRamone the beetle flies towards forrest fires, from upto 80kms away. I think fire is necessary for it to breed or something.

[@Nelgrim]

@dootzky richard dawkins was on TED talks xd...even dan dannett

[@Neanderthalcouzin]

@dootzky ditto. I am not proud of a gender, nationality, *race*, ethnicity, and so on. No-one ever did anything to earn those, they were just born into it. Its brilliant ideas like this that matter.

[@Mattjhumun]

i had to do this cuz of school

[@AnuragAshok]

In that case, why not do it in the Thar Desert in Rajasthan (India)? That area is very stable and tranquility.

[@roidroid]

@MatsMinds plastic can be made from various renewables as well. i don't think he said anywhere in the video that he's going to be dropped in the desert naked, and he needs to build all his own tools, harvest all of his energy (starting with nothing!) and then create these things from scratch. He didn't say that. We CAN use already existing tools to create these things to reach our goals. It will take energy to create. They won't break-even instantly, no investment does that.

[@SEThatered]

Can i mirror this video?

[@roidroid]

@dookiecheez you know where this project would take off? Dubai. It has the desert/beach landscape, the money, and the will power. Perfect place to start

[@vikitheviki]

Yep! Zeitgeist FTW :))

[@Enki1013]

Any reason why the idea of building these seawater greenhouses has not been considered for areas in the USA, for example California?

[@archweekly8305]

capitalists won't gain that much profit from zero waste designed infrastructures.

[@monicaneary6797]

most likely lack of funding

[@cowpacino]

I'm studying chemistry and THIS is the reason why

[@lockcraw]

@majinspy well it would be difficult to get power from arizona to michigan, but if you build solar plants all around the southwest that has such a reliable solar resource so you can make an entire region of the united states free from the need of unsustainable fuels. Then that lowers prices and saves money and allows for opportunities to devise and implement new technologies so it all balloons off of one another.

[@hugorolo517]

The Green Lex Luther!!