Inspired by architect Frei Otto and design scientist Buckminster Fuller, third year Pratt Institute design students from Jonas Coersmeier’s design studio and research seminar (of Spring 2008) utilized a Table Top SEM to observe micro and nano-scale features produced solely by Mother Nature. After analyzing and documenting the intricacy, beauty and functionality of natural structures, students selected structural entities typically not observed on the macro scale, and utilized the micrograph data to generate analytical drawings followed by generative models for design of a large span structure that would become an aquatic center in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn, N.Y.