Page 35 - JCAU-5-4

Journal of Chinese
Architecture and Urbanism Floral strategies for regenerative design

2023). Moreover, designing flower structures and systems behavior and make it difficult for them to find flowers,
that facilitate interspecies relationships enables the leading to a decline in their populations.
exploration of diverse environmental conditions through By developing flowers that are specifically adapted to
the specifics of geometry, choreography, and interaction bloom at night, we can help to address this problem and
that can be applied more generally to provide diverse provide a food source for nocturnal pollinators. These
habitats for different species. Specifically designing flowers flowers could be designed to be more visible in low-light
can help us better understand and design for cooperation conditions, with colors that are easily distinguishable from
and coevolution between species through a range of the surrounding environment, and keep track of pollinator
interactions with pollinators and their communities, which populations using infrared cameras. In addition, these
are the foundations for developing diverse and resilient flowers could be designed to emit fragrances that are
ecosystems that can better withstand environmental attractive to nocturnal pollinators.
changes.
The development of night-blooming flowers could also
Flowers have been cultivated and bred by humans for have other benefits, such as reducing the impact of artificial
thousands of years, having been selected for their colors, lighting on the environment and improving the esthetics
shapes, sizes, and fragrances, to develop many different of urban areas at night. By providing a food source for
varieties of flowers that are not found in nature. Hybrid nocturnal pollinators, we can help to support the health and
species have also been created by crossbreeding, resulting diversity of ecosystems, while also promoting sustainable
in new and unique varieties of flowers that would not practices and reducing our impact on the environment.
exist in nature. These hybrid flowers can be seen as
artificial, as they are the result of human intervention and Overall, the idea of a flower for night-time can help
manipulation so the design of flowers within an unnatural to address the pollinator crisis caused by artificial street
or manufactured context is in keeping with the nature of lighting, while also providing a range of other benefits for
flowers themselves. the environment and society.

There is no obligation to design a flower that is only 3.3. XENO: A robotically operated artificial
limited to already established natural capabilities. Using metabolism
technology, new materials, and other artificial means, XENO captures its prey and main energy source —
flower systems can be created that can perform functions mosquitoes — when they activate motion sensors that are
beyond what they can do in nature. This could include situated within its sweet, scented petals. Performing useful
enhancing their beauty or color, increasing their lifespan, work that is drawn from metabolic exchanges that operate
making them resistant to environmental stressors, or even within natural systems and processes, the petals are made
imbuing them with new functions, such as emitting light of bioplastics, which are produced from spoiled food such
or producing fragrances in response to specific stimuli. as blueberries. This deep purple material emits a powerful
Artificial flowers could be designed to perform a variety scent that attracts mosquitoes, which primarily obtain
of functions depending on their intended purpose. For their energy from sugar-rich plant nectar and are generally
example, they could be designed to clean the air by drawn to flowers that have a broad surface area, which
removing pollutants or to provide a sustainable source of makes it easier for them to land and access the nectar.
energy by converting sunlight into electricity. They could A scent hotspot located at the tip of the artificial anther is
also be designed to respond to human touch, trap biting heated by a current from a benthic fuel cell at the flower
insects like mosquitoes, or change color in response to base, which releases fruity volatiles (Figure 7).
environmental pollution. Artificial flowers could be used
in a variety of settings, such as indoor and outdoor decor, Benthic fuel cells are also known as sediment microbial
as well as in smart clothing. Ultimately, the possibilities fuel cells (SMFCs), or sediment fuel cells (SFCs), which
harness the power of microbial activity in sediments or
for designing artificial flowers are limited only by our aquatic environments to generate electricity. They consist
imagination and the technology available to us.
of two electrodes — an anode and a cathode — which are
For example, the modern trend for Artificial Lighting placed in the sediment. Typically, the anode is buried in the
at Night is a significant threat to biodiversity in general sediment, while the cathode is exposed to the surrounding
and nocturnally active insects in particular and may be water. Microorganisms, such as bacteria, naturally inhabit
contributing to a decline in insect populations (Davies et al., sediments where they oxidize organic matter present in the
2012). Many pollinators, such as moths and bats, are active sediment as part of their metabolic processes. On breaking
at night and rely on their ability to see flowers to find food; down organic matter, they release electrons as a byproduct,
however, artificial street lighting can disrupt their natural which are transferred to the anode electrode and then to

Volume 5 Issue 4 (2023) 6 https://doi.org/10.36922/jcau.1006