Biomimicry New Zealand

In vasoconstriction, thermal regulation happens through heat transfer between blood vessels and skin, these being the internal and peripheral tissues. Thinking of blood vessels as pipes with a fluid flow transferring the thermal energy to where it is demanded in a building, the smaller the diameter of the pipes, the less fluid will flow, and thus, the less heat will be taken away through conduction and convection, due to the temperature difference between the pipes and the adjacent surfaces.

While several biological thermal adaptation strategies are currently translated to and employed in sustainable building design, they, represent at best a simple translation of the intricate mechanisms of thermal adaptation in nature.