Just about anything we can come up with has already been perfected by nature. To find the best ways to make bullet trains more aerodynamic, produce the ideal wing shapes for aircraft, or develop the grippiest materials for climbing vertical surfaces, we need only look to kingfishers, hawks, and geckos. Features that evolved to suit the conditions of our planet over millions of years are better than whatever our most brilliant human minds can invent. Biomimicry is one of our most important tools to create more advanced and sustainable innovations, from robotics to architecture.

Australian firm Koichi Takada Architects uses biomimicry as the guiding principle in all its designs, including its new Solar Trees Marketplace in the Minhang district southwest of Shanghai, China. The complex takes one of Chinese culture’s most revered and ancient public spaces and modernizes it without compromising the characteristics that make it special. The firm wanted to retain the feeling of discovery and connection to the country’s historic open-air markets with a design that was friendly to both humans and the environment, taking cues from Mother Nature’s own creations.
The result is nothing short of stunning. Currently in the late stages of construction, the three-story mixed-use development features 32 architectural “trees” rising from the ground to form an artificial canopy above hundreds of modular market stalls. Visitors will wind through indoor and outdoo...