Year
2024Location
Brooklyn Botanic Garden, Brooklyn, NY (May to October, 2024), relocated to University at Buffalo South Campus (November 2024).Description
Conceived of as an outdoor multi-species resting space, Pollinator Lounge is an arrangement of wooden seats for human visitors and habitat boxes for non-human inhabitants. Gabions filled with Adirondack cobble stones provide shelter for smaller ground-dwelling fauna.
The 43 habitat boxes – created in consideration of local pollinator species in New York – are designed and fabricated by sophomore students at University at Buffalo and freshman students at the University of Texas at Austin, which were part of their Spring 2024 studio projects.
Credits
Designed by Joyce Hwang and Nerea Feliz, inspired by their Multispecies Lounge installation in Toronto, commissioned by the Bentway Conservancy in 2023.
Commissioned by Brooklyn Botanic Garden. Relocation and reinstallation supported by University at Buffalo Office of Campus Planning.
Towers and seats fabricated by: Spielman Fabrication, WRGeorgi Fabrication.
Habitat boxes designed and fabricated by students at University at Buffalo and University of Texas at Austin. Additional UB faculty instructors: Seth Amman, Brian Carter, Shawn Chiki Lewis, Maia Peck, Nicole Sarmiento, and Adam Thibodeaux.
Fabrication assistance by Nicholas Frantzeskos and K. Alec Lewis.
Drawings assistance by Michelle A Franks.
Additional assistance by John Dullaghan, Ayleen Gutierrez, Opshora Kabir, Hannah Ikawa, Rivaldo Griffiths, Alec Pitillo, Tyler Brown, Josmarie Hernandez, Raj Shah, Delaney Williams, Max Avrutsky, Mason Montgomery, Esdras Velasquez, Ashley Johnson.
Photo credits: Liz Ligon for BBG. Douglas Levere for University at Buffalo.
Selected Recognition
Commissioned as part of “Natural Attractions: A Plant-Pollinator Love Story,” at Brooklyn Botanic Garden (2024).
Pollinator Lounge Artist Talk and Mini Tours at Brooklyn Botanic Garden, Brooklyn, NY, USA (October 13, 2024).
FAUNA Symposium: Designing for More Than Human Worlds at University at Buffalo School of Architecture and Planning, convened by Julia Czerniak, Buffalo, NY, USA (Talk and panel discussion, September 25, 2024).
“Designboom’s Guide Archtober 2024: What not to miss during NYC’s Architecture Month” in Designboom (October 2024).
“Architecture installation creates multispecies ‘lounge’ for people, pollinators” by Rachel Teaman, in UB Now (October 2024).
“A Visit to Brooklyn Botanic Garden’s Pollinator Lounge” in Archtober (September 2024).
“How biocentric architecture can help architects hit climate goals” by Wanda Lau, in AIA Architect (August 15, 2024).
“A ‘pollinator lounge’ is now open at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden” by Anna Rahmanan, in TimeOut New York (June 20, 2024).
“Pollinator Lounge, BBG” by Dave Pinter, in Seen.Today: A Visual Journal of Architecture, Automotive, Design, and Urbanscape Aesthetics (June 10, 2024).