Can Biomimicry Be a Useful Tool for Design for Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation? - Biotechnologies and Biomimetics for Civil Engineering - page 90

Fig. 4.5 CH2 building,
Melbourne, Australia (photo
by: W. Gurak)
less water than typical comparable buildings that are built without any sustain-
ability features (Jones 2008 ; Tan 2007 ). CH2 is a 6-star Australian Green Star
building. It was built at a cost premium of 22.1 % (Aranda-Mena et al. 2008 ), but
due to productivity increases of 10.9 % from staff attributed to the new building
(Paevere and Brown 2008 ), as well as substantial energy savings, pay back was
between 5 and 7 years (Bond 2010 ). These results suggest that the building is
successful and performs better than conventional buildings.
Other Australian buildings achieve similar or better results and are not bio-
mimetic, however, such as the Gauge by Land Lease (by architect Darren Kin-
drachuk) built in 2009, also a 6 Green Star building in Melbourne. It is claimed
that the building recycles 92 % of its water on-site, and produces 25 % of its own
energy. The 2008 Workplace 6 (Sydney, also 6 Green Star rated by architects
Nettleton Tribe) reports 90 % water savings, 70 % reduction in carbon footprint,