Originally Posted at Biomimicry NYC

The Urban Greenprint is working with a diverse group of experts to determine how buildings and infrastructure can mimic [forest] functions, researching materials and digging into questions such as:

• What if rainwater, after being used inside a building, gravity-fed out to a spongy façade where it was held until it evaporated?
• What if building skins had hydrophilic and hydrophobic surfaces, like moss, to hold onto water and slowly trickle it off the building, increasing the opportunity for evaporation?
• What if curbs were built of material mimicking mushrooms to remediate stormwater and store it until it could evaporate?
• What if downspouts coming off our buildings were designed to pool water in staggered trays along their height, allowing for evaporation, like the leaves of a tree?

Read: Evaporation: Closing the Gap between Forest and Urban Water Flows