Wild Minimalist Biomimetic Retail Store
This commercial retail and roof garden design was created for a zero-waste company located in San Rafael, California. This building’s retailer, Wild Minimalist, is a company that sells zero waste home and beauty products with an ethos of reducing the waste we generative through our everyday products. Each design element was established in alignment with this ethos of sustainability, both environmentally and socially. The retail space is located on the first floor of the building, the layout designed to allow access to customers of all abilities. Ample space is preserved on either side of the floor - to - ceiling shelving units to comply with social distancing and wheelchair accessibility. Storage space is housed along the walls and behind the checkout counter in the back of the store. Each floor is divided by a bamboo atrium, allowing for ample light within the space. The building did not originally have a green roof, so it was added for customers and employees. The roof boasts four planters for gardening and ample green space for insulation, storm water runoff reduction, reduced air pollution.
The bio-wall is designed to act as a superficial facade that can be placed over the buildings constructed wall. The bio-wall is comprised of hollow glass panels, 2” wide by 4” deep. Each glass panel contains raised bumps 1/2” apart that are open at their tops. The hydrophilicity of each bump attracts water to its surface. Water then slides down the bump onto the hydrophobic flat surface, allowing for water to move down and into the openings at the top of each bump. Once through the opening, the inside surface of the glass panel contains a hydrophobic coating, allowing for collected water to travel down to the bottom collection area, where water is diverted to any four of the longest glass panels made open to the smaller panels, located on either side of the two large windows on the first floor.
The biomimetic water-collection solution was inspired by Harvard's Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering’s research into the ecological principles behind the external bumps of Namib desert beetles. The beetle’s bumps help the insect collect water droplets on its shell. Bio-wall elements were also inspired by the hydrophobic wax found on the leaves of desert cacti, allowing these plants to source limited water supplies in desert climates.
The amount of water collected by the bio-wall depends on the dew point of the surface in comparison to the outside temperature, and the humidity in the air. In San Rafael, CA the annual dew point averages 14 degrees cooler than the average daily temperature. This means that when the glass panels are 14 degrees cooler than the surrounding air, water will condense onto the glass panel surface allowing for water collection. This amount can be increased with cooling systems keeping the glass paneling at dew point all day.
Bio-wall dimensions: 407 square feet of glass paneling
Daily glass dew point (passively): 3 hours
Water collection rate: 0.007 gallons of water per square foot.
Daily bio-wall water collection: 2.849 gallons/hour collected by entire wall (8.547 gallons/3 hours of daily dew point)
