Termite Architecture and Biomimicry

In 2004, Researchers from Loughborough University filled the dendritic cavities of an African termite mound with a special gypsum casting material and then washed the hill away to disclose its (now-historical) interior network of circulation and ventilation ductwork (scope of termite casualties not disclosed). Apparently, this was the first time a termite building had ever been so comprehensively stripped and catalogued - new light was shed, deeper understanding bred, etc. Obviously, however, the work's sweetest fruit was the resultant plaster cast, a  potential architectural model Lars Spuybroek  would trade his left nut for...

Architects have been (and should be) studying and emulating examples of biomimicry such as termites' atechnologically organic and environmentally adaptive building style: "Learning from Termites", Eastgate Centre, Evolutionary Architecture: Nature as a Basis for Design, "Imitation of Life".