Buildings must adapt and respond dynamically to their environment to reduce their energy loads and mitigate environmental impacts. Several approaches have addressed responsive behavior in buildings, such as adaptive and biomimetic envelopes. However, biomimetic approaches lack sustainability consideration, as conducted in biomimicry approaches. This study provides a comprehensive review of biomimicry approaches to develop responsive envelopes, aiming to understand the connection between material selection and manufacturing. This review of the last five years of building construction and architecture-related studies consisted of a two-phase search query, including keywords that answered three research questions relating to the biomimicry and biomimetic-based building envelopes and their materials and manufacturing and excluding other non-related industrial sectors. The first phase focused on understanding biomimicry approaches implemented in building envelopes by reviewing the mechanisms, species, functions, strategies, materials, and morphology. The second concerned the case studies relating to biomimicry approaches and envelopes. Results highlighted that most of the existing responsive envelope characteristics are achievable with complex materials requiring manufacturing processes with no environmentally friendly techniques. Additive and controlled subtractive manufacturing processes may improve sustainability, but there is still some challenge to developing materials that fully adapt to large-scale and sustainability needs, leaving a significant gap in this field.

In the Panama context, energy consumption in the building sector is mostly related to the conditioning of indoor spaces for cooling and lighting. Different nature strategies can be mimic to strongly impact these two aspects in the building sector, such as the ones presented here. A comprehensive analysis regarding literature related to biomimicry-based approaches destined to improve buildings designs is presented here. This analysis is driven by the increasing energy regulations demands to meet future local goals and to propose a framework for applications in Panama. Such biomimicry-based approaches have been further analyzed and evaluated to propose the incorporation of organism-based design for three of the most climate types found in Panama. Consequently, a SWOT analysis helped realized the potential that biomimicry-based approaches might have in improving the odds of in meeting the local and global regulations demands. The need for multidisciplinary collaboration to accomplish biomimicry-based-designed buildings, brings an increment in the competitivity regarding more trained human-assets, widening the standard-construction-sector thinking. Finally, the analysis presented here can serve as the foundation for further technical assessment, via numerical and experimental means.

In recent years, demographic growth has caused cities to expand their urban areas, increasing the risk of overheating, creating insurmountable microclimatic conditions within the urban area, which is why studies have been carried out on the urban heat island effect (UHI) and its mitigation. Therefore, this research aims to evaluate the cooling potential in the application of strategies based on biomimicry for the microclimate in a historical heritage city of Panama. For this, three case studies (base case, case 1, and case 2) of outdoor thermal comfort were evaluated, in which the Envi-met software was used to emulate and evaluate the thermal performance of these strategies during March (highest temperature month) and October (rainier month). The strategies used were extracted from the contrast of zebra skin, human skin, evaporative cooling, and ant skin. The results showed a reduction of 2.8 °C in the air temperature at 11:00, the radiant temperature decreased by 2.2 °C, and the PET index managed to reduce the thermal comfort indicator among its categories. The importance of thinking based on biomimicry in sustainable strategies is concluded; although significant changes were obtained, high risks of discomfort persist due to the layout and proximity of the building.

The transition toward sustainable production requires engineering and science education to adopt active, interdisciplinary, and practice-oriented teaching strategies. This article presents a comparative analysis of two educational initiatives implemented in Panama aimed at fostering sustainability competencies at the university and secondary school levels. The first initiative, developed at the Technological University of Panama, integrates project-based learning and circular economy principles into an extracurricular module focused on production planning, sustainable design, and quality management. Students created prototypes using recycled HDPE and additive manufacturing technologies within a simulated startup environment. The second initiative, carried out in two public secondary schools, applied project- and challenge-based learning through the Design Thinking framework, supporting teachers and students in addressing real-world sustainability challenges. Both programs emphasize hands-on learning, creativity, and iterative development, embedding environmental awareness and innovation in both formal and informal educational settings. The article identifies key opportunities and challenges in implementing active methodologies for sustainability education. Challenges such as limited infrastructure and rigid schedules were identified, along with lessons learned for future implementation. Students connected local issues to global goals like the SDGs and saw themselves as agents of change. These initiatives offer practical models for advancing sustainability education through innovation and interdisciplinary collaboration.

Buildings are among the main reasons for the deterioration of the world environment as they are responsible for a large percentage of CO₂ emissions related to energy. For this reason, it is necessary to find solutions to this problem. This research project consists of constructing the metamodel of an urbanization located in Panama, Herrera province. The classification and systematization of its main elements, using the software DesignBuilder and SysML diagrams, were carried out for its subsequent implementation in an optimization analysis that seeks to approach the NZED standard. The main objectives of the optimization are reducing the energy consumption at the lowest possible price while maintaining or improving thermal comfort. In this study, it was possible to reduce electricity consumption to at least 60% of the original value and about 10% of the renewable energy generation capacity by implementing optimization techniques within the retrofit category related to the envelope of the buildings and the occupant’s behavior.