Ummesalama Master plays at an interactive game and sensory station about the influence of nature in everyday objects and design in “Nature’s Blueprints: Biomimicry in Art and Design,” a traveling exhibit currently at Elmhurst Art Museum. (Steven Koch)

Who would’ve thought termites have the answer for beating the summer heat?

“They naturally build these mounds, and intuitively or intelligently, create these openings in these mounds because they know it creates a cross breeze and it cools their environment,” Chicago architect Alicia Ponce said. “That’s an example of biomimicry and what we are doing in this project. Ironically it’s called The Magical Town in Mexico. And it will be magical once it’s built.”

Ponce is using a rammed earth process on the Mexico project, which she details in an installation currently on display as part of the exhibit “Nature’s Blueprints: Biomimicry in Art and Design.” It runs through Aug. 14 at Elmhurst Art Museum in Elmhurst.

“It’s more than just an inspiration from nature, it’s mimicking it, or emulating it into designed art, architecture, you name it,” said Museum Director John McKinnon of biomimicry. “How spider webs inspire suspension bridges or burrs that were stuck on a pair of pants then inspired the creator of Velcro.”

The touring exhibit features a dozen interactive learning stations that help illustrate the connection between nature and design in real-life products, he said. For instance, the way small mammals are studied to create a better type of wet suit for surfers or how the teeth of a chain saw take inspiration from how a beetle might gnaw through wood.

“There’s lots of different moments where you realize there’s products you use every single day that are inspired by nature, like the Velcro example … that you might not have thought about before,” McKinnon said.

Visitors can learn about different ways that scientists or designers or architects have been inspired by that in nature over time.

“The earliest work that I’ve seen in it is a copy of the journal of Leonardo da Vinci with drawings of flying machines inspired by bat wings. And it goes all the way up to the present with a remix of a song by this musician called DJ Spooky,” McKinnon said.

“There’s a listening station with a song that he’s remixed that’s inspired by nature. I think there’s a lot of different points of interactivity but also of approachability throughout the show.”

Among the stations is an area where the visitors can stand and it will get a thermal read on your heat signature and see different ways pythons or other animals might see, he said.

“And you can hold up different pieces of clothing or jump around in front of it and see how that might change that heat signature or heat image your body might create,” McKinnon said. “That would be a really kind of fun one for kids.”

For Elmhurst’s exhibit, the art museum asked Ponce, who specializes in using nature in design, to create an installation.

“I started it 15 years ago to design architecture that is inspired by nature and respects nature. In the sense of biomimicry, there’s 3.8 billion years of proof that nature works,” said Ponce, who is founder and principal of the architectural firm APMonarch.

“I as an architect like to observe nature and its systems and studying the science behind it and mimicking those systems into architecture. We don’t need to depend on mechanical systems, or we can depend less on them because nature doesn’t plug itself into a wall, right? So we mimic those systems.”

In her installation, she explains the rammed earth process step by step.

“It’s functional in that the rammed earth is structural, it heats naturally when it’s cold and it cools naturally when it’s warm. It’s a technology, if you will, that’s been used for thousands of years only now it’s perfected for modern times,” she said.

Modern materials like reinforced steel can be used to make it more structurally sound, but really the bulk of the material is earth, she said.

“And even the way it’s constructed, you take the earth ideally from the site where you’re building from and you use that to start constructing the walls,” said Ponce, who hosts the podcast “Designing Healthy Environments” on APMonarch’s YouTube channel.

The process involves compacting seven inches of soil.

“There’s way people can do it with their bare hands or now there’s more sophisticated ways of doing it with machines,” she said. “The idea is not to use energy while you build it as well, so reducing carbon emissions as much as we can is what we strived to do.”

Another project Ponce, author of “Latinas in Architecture: Stories of raising the 1% one Latina at a time,” highlights is the North Park Village Nature Center on Chicago’s north side. APMonarch designed the lobby of the center. Visitors can walk through four different ecosystems and learn about nature. As part of the project, tree bark damaged by the Asian Longhorn Beetle was used in the finish of the lobby.

“They leave this very intricate pattern … we took that and we’re salvaging the damaged wood and we are showing visitors what nature does,” she said. “But instead of just disposing of the wood that was harmed, we took it and put it as a finish on the lobby. Kids can run their hands through it and feel the texture. So it’s a way for kids and adults can learn from nature how the bad can be turned into something good.”

The “Nature’s Blueprint” exhibit is included in the price of adult museum admission.

“Kids are always free and free to all of our shows that are current,” McKinnon said. The museum, currently celebrating its 25th anniversary, also has two additional nature-related exhibits — a solo art show by Chicago painter Raúl Ortiz titled “More is More” runs through Aug. 14 in the Museum’s historic McCormick House and the Elmhurst Artists’ Guild Summer Members’ Show, featuring the work of 35 local artists runs through July 23.

A full summer of programming is running concurrently with the exhibit including summer camps, classes, teen STEM and STEAM workshops and more. A full list is available on the museum’s website.

“I think this exhibit will inspire people on advocating for this type of architecture. For we have as architects, as contractors and engineers, we have the resources, we have the tools and we can be innovative to build buildings that are good for the environment.

“There’s no reason why we should do it like we always do it — because it’s the easy way or the cheaper way,” Ponce said. “Realize that this can be in your home, where you work. And we just need to advocate for this type of work.”

‘Nature’s Blueprints: Biomimicry in Art and Design’

Where: Elmhurst Art Museum, 150 Cottage Hill Ave., Elmhurst

Tickets: $15 adults; $12 seniors 65+; Ages 18 and under free

Information: 630-834-0202; elmhurstartmuseum.org

Kathy Cichon is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.