Although designers and engineers have been knocking off nature since the days of Daedalus, not all designers go the “let’s use bird wings to fly” approach. Some go to places that many may not even think about.

Case in point: the Eastgate Shopping Center in Zimbabwe. It was inspired by termite mounds.

According to a report in Wired Science: “The inside of a termite mound stays at near-constant temperature and humidity, no matter how wet, dry, scorching or freezing it might be outside. To do this, termites open and close a series of heating and cooling vents throughout the day.”

The shopping center was designed accordingly and is said to use 90% less energy than comparatively sized buildings.

For more on architectural developments, check out the September-October issue of Time Compression.