Year
2012Location
Buffalo, NY and Rotterdam, NetherlandsDescription
Bat Cloud is a hanging canopy of vessels that is designed and constructed to support bat habitation. From afar, the piece would appear like a cloud, hovering in the trees. Closer up, viewers from below would be able to see plants and vegetation material hanging from each vessel. At dusk, onlookers might be able to catch sight of bats or other wildlife as they fly out of the habitation vessels.
Each vessel is formed in a way to allow bats to enter and inhabit its insulated uppermost portion. The lower volume of each is filled with soil and seeds for various plants, also serving as a host for spontaneous plants. The vessels are designed for bat guano to collect in the soil-filled area to help fertilize the vegetation.
Credits
By: Joyce Hwang / Ants of the Prairie.
Design and Fabrication Manager, 2012: Sze Wan Li (Buffalo).
Fabrication Manager, 2014: Joey Swerdlin (Rotterdam).
Design Assistant: Mikaila Waters.
Fabrication Assistants (2012): Robert Yoos, Duane Waren, Shawn Lewis, Molly Hogle.
Fabrication Assistants (2014): Andres Santandreu, Ian Liu.
Installation Assistants (2012): Matthieu Bain, Joshua Gardner, Shawn Lewis, Sze Wan Li, Sergio López-Piñeiro, Nellie Niespodzinski, Mark Nowaczyk, Alex Poklinkowski, Joseph Swerdlin, Duane Warren, Robert Yoos.
Installation Assistants (2014): Sze Wan Li, Robert Yoos.
Consultants: Mark Bajorek (structural engineering), Katharina Dittmar (biology).
2012 edition supported by: UB School of Architecture and Planning, UB Humanities Institute, “Fluid Culture” Organizers: Colleen Culleton, Justin Read, Tifft/Buffalo Museum of Science coordinators: Lauren Makeyenko, David Spiering.
2014 edition supported by: Awesome Without Borders grant, IABR (International Architecture Biennial Rotterdam).
Selected Recognition
2014 Awesome Without Borders Grant.
2012 Urban Animal: The 2012 Animal Architecture Awards, First Place.
2022 Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), Emilio Ambasz Institute for the Joint Study of the Built and Natural Environment, “Built Ecologies: Architecture and Environment” video series: New York, NY.
2014 International Architecture Biennale Rotterdam (IABR), “Urban by Nature,” Kunstal: Rotterdam, Netherlands.
2012 Venice International Architecture Biennale, U.S. Pavilion presentation “Spontaneous Interventions: Design Actions for the Common Good”: Venice, Italy.
2012 UB Humanities Institute, “Fluid Culture” event series.
The Architect’s Newspaper (2014).
Arch Daily (2014).
Metropolis Magazine (2012).
Designboom (2012).
Treehugger (2012).
Azure Magazine (2012).
Architect Magazine (2012).
The Scientist (2012).
The Pop Up City (2012).
Expanded Architecture (2012).
Archinect (2012).
Hwang, Joyce. “Pest Architecture.” World Architecture Magazine, issue 201807 (2018), Architecture for Animals in Urban Environment: 23-30.
Hwang, Joyce. “Toward an Architecture for Urban Wildlife Advocacy.” Biophilic Cities Journal, issue 2 (2017): 24-31.
Hwang, Joyce. “Reconsidering Architecture in the Age of the Anthropocene.” Project Journal, issue 6 (2017): 14-21.
Harriss, Harriet and House, Naomi (eds). Working at the Intersection: Architecture After the Anthropocene. London, UK: RIBA Publishers, 2022.
Wainwright, Tom. Pet-tecture: Design for Animals. London, UK: Phaidon Press, 2018.