Description

Habitat Wall is a prototype wall structure that incorporates conditions for bat and bird inhabitation into its design, aiming to give a spatial and tactile presence to species-specific considerations.

Whether or not we like to admit it, many of our buildings already serve as habitat sites for urban animals. Bats frequently use attic spaces and warm cavities for roosting. Rats and raccoons occupy locations around dumpsters and loading docks. Birds are often seen on building cornices and nesting within exterior ornamentation.
In this project, we ask: If an exterior wall is already an inhabitable surface, how can those conditions be made visible, and aesthetically intensified? How can a wall not only act as a façade but also be designed to perform as a living membrane?

Exploratory designs include several iterations of wall structures – including “Pest Wall” and “Layered Vernacular”– that were developed as spingboards for the Habitat Wall project series.