Biomimicry is the approach of imitating nature’s time-tested strategies in design to derive sustainable solutions to solve problems. The goal of this research was to utilize biomimicry to imitate the adaptations of land snails in order to design a product. Initial observation of the animal and plant kingdom led to the discovery of the interesting adaptations of land snails to tackle heat. The aesthetics and structural adaptations of different snail shells were examined with the assistance of land snail experts at the Academy of Natural Sciences. A deep understanding of the snail’s cooling adaptations led to the idea of applying these mechanisms to refrigeration. The study then was focussed on developing a refrigerator for low income groups that don’t have access to electricity, which constitutes 16% of the global population. Several designs of off-grid refrigerators were sketched and modeled by mimicking the snail’s material and structural mechanism for blocking out heat. After several rounds of experiments and validation, a single design was chosen and solar powered technologies and insulation methods were researched to fit the design. The next step would be to build a scale model, incorporate the technology and test the prototype.
