Non-Directional Carpet Tiles Inspired by the Forest Floor

Innovation: Industry

Interface

Image: Kazuend / Unsplash / CC BY SA - Creative Commons Attribution + ShareAlike

Cooperate Within an Ecosystem

An ecosystem is a community of organisms (plants, animals, and microbes) interacting with one another and the nonliving components of their environment (such as air, water, and mineral soil). This interaction can be passive or active, and can cooperatively enhance the functioning of the ecosystem as a whole. For cooperation to contribute to maintaining communities within an ecosystem, it must be beneficial to at least some members of the community. Cooperation consists of symbiotic relationships, such as mutualism (in which two or more species in an ecosystem benefit) and commensalism (in which one species benefits and the effect on others is neutral). An example of a commensal relationship is that between bromeliad plants and trees: bromeliads live on trees without harming them. Bromeliads have mutualistic relationships with other species, including insects, frogs, and worms. The plants capture water in their base, forming a pond that these organisms join. The nutrients that these organisms excrete in their droppings nourish the bromeliad.

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Adapt Behaviors

The environment is constantly changing, and if living systems can’t adapt to these changes, they don’t survive. Environmental changes can be cyclic such as seasons, sudden such as floods or forest fires, or gradual but long-term, such as ecosystems shifting from early to mature stages. These changes require some flexibility in behavioral responses to match the specific conditions. For example, as a fish called the lamprey swims, it constantly faces changes in currents. Skin sensors help it detect those changes and adjust its motion accordingly.

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Modify Light/Color

Color in living systems comes from pigments and the interaction of light with surfaces. Color serves many purposes for living systems, such as attracting prey or mates, providing warnings, or protecting through camouflage. To create the effects needed for each purpose, living systems must control the expression or visibility of pigments and the interactions (such as reflectance and refraction) of light. To do so, they have strategies that modify color or light to increase or decrease the color’s position, intensity, opacity, and more. Male hummingbirds, for example, have brightly colored feather patches on their throats; the coloring comes from pigments, structures that refract light, or a combination of the two. When a male hummingbird hovers near a potential mate, it modifies the angle of these feathers to create a bright, colorful display. However, when it needs to mute the colors to reduce conspicuousness, such as to avoid a predator, it modifies the angle again.

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Physically Assemble Structure

Living systems use physical materials to create structures to serve as protection, insulation, and other purposes. These structures can be internal (within or attached to the system itself), such as cell membranes, shells, and fur. They can also be external (detached), such as nests, burrows, cocoons, or webs. Because physical materials are limited and the energy required to gather and create new structures is costly, living systems must use both conservatively. Therefore, they optimize the structures’ size, weight, and density. For example, weaver birds use two types of vegetation to create their nests: strong, a few stiff fibers and numerous thin fibers. Combined, they make a strong, yet flexible, nest. An example of an internal structure is a bird’s bone. The bone is comprised of a mineral matrix assembled to create strong cross-supports and a tubular outer surface filled with air to minimize weight.

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Brochures

i2 Tile Product List
58.9 KB PDF

Patents

US7601413B2
2.3 MB PDF

i2 carpet tiles from Interface have variable patterns and color that allow them to be installed non-directionally while still creating a cohesive design.

Benefits

Reduced costs
Reduced waste

Applications

Interior design
Residential and commercial buildings

UN Sustainable Development Goals Addressed

Goal 11: Sustainable Cities & Communities
Goal 12: Responsible Production & Consumption

The Challenge

Standardization has been the operating principle of interchangeability of parts in human-made manufacturing since the Industrial Revolution. However, standardization in carpet tile design and color made matching of replacement tiles with pre-existing carpet extremely difficult. When traditional broadloom carpet becomes dirty or damaged, entire rolls of carpet are replaced and carted off to landfills, resulting in increased waste, as even tiles in good condition had to be replaced for aesthetic reasons. Additionally, later in the lifetime of the carpet, it is challenging to find a replacement tile that seamlessly blends in.

Innovation Details

i2® carpet tiles feature random patterns and gradations of colors that allow the tiles to be installed non-directionally. No matter how the tiles are arranged on the floor, the colors and patterns work together to form a cohesive design, similar to a forest floor. i2 carpet tiles can be replaced individually and many of the components can be recycled, resulting in significant reductions in waste and cost. The intentional color variations eliminate common concerns over dye lots, meaning that consumers no longer need to purchase large quantities of “attic stock” in order to ensure matching replacement tiles. The color variations also make it difficult to perceive small stains and soil.

Biological Model

The forest floor has a wide variety of colors and textures, and features shapes that repeat but in infinitely varied arrangements. Still, humans perceive the forest floor––with leaves, twigs, rocks, and more––to have a cohesive and even potentially pleasing visual effect. The varied appearance also allows a wide variety of creatures to exist on the the forest floor without being easily detected by predators.

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