FAUNA: Designing for More Than Human Worlds

On September 25^th, a distinguished panel of architects, landscape architects, urban planners, and environmental designers joined Dean Julia Czerniak at the School of Architecture and Planning for “FAUNA: Designing for More Than Human Worlds.” This symposium focused on how these academics and professionals are rethinking their design practices to include non-human species, particularly animals, with the aim to broaden the understanding of how these fields can contribute to human-animal-centered design within the context of the climate crisis. 

Each panelist was invited to discuss a past project—sharing the process, from design challenges to site considerations and community involvement, and reflecting on the strategies implemented for designing environments that accommodate both humans and animals. 

After Dean Czerniak’s setting of the disciplinary framework, Ariane Lourie Harrison, PhD, AIA, principal and co-founder of Harrison Atelier (HAT) and a registered architect in New York State, was the first panelist to showcase the concepts and realities of making architecture for multiple species. Ariane examined the project “Pollinators Arch,” sharing how holes, although tiny scale, are a way into a much broader and textured way to design for a biodiverse city. “Holes are something I like,” Ariane said, “I am somewhat obsessed with them. It’s a profound making of the surface; a living fabric with ecological benefits. If we take something like vermiculated or honeycomb treatments of stone surface, those refer to traces made by animals… architecture retains the idea of its surfaces being inhabited by other species.” Reflecting on the performance of the project, Ariane concluded that cities can be a part of the solution for sustaining species. 

For nearly two decades, Joyce Hwang, professor and director of graduate studies of Architecture at the University at Buffalo, has been developing a series of projects that incorporate wildlife habitats into constructed environments. Her presentation focused on The Pollinator Lounge, an installation and program series at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden created in collaboration with students from the School. Utilizing habitat boxes painted with UV paint that draws attention to bird and insect vision, the “homes” are designed to highlight two realities visually—one for humans and one for animals. The exhibit seeks to shed light on the connections between plants and pollinators, underlying the latter's essentiality and calling on New Yorkers to protect them. 

Mitchell Joachim, PhD, Assoc. AIA (BPS '94) is the co-Founder of Terreform ONE and professor of practice at NYU. Passionate about design against extinction, Mitchell spoke of his work on multispecies design—utilizing organic materials and biotech for a variety of commissions—including a concept that won the National Endowment for the Arts award. This project produced a scaffolding system that has a multispecies façade and an infill made from living wooded plants and clusters. These are grown and folded over a scaffolding that will eventually get removed, leaving grafted willows of multiple tiers that is architecturally sound and acts as what he terms a 'terrestrial reef.’ 

Brad Howe, RLA is a principal at SCAPE, a landscape architecture and urban design practice that utilizes diverse forms of design to connect people to their environments. He leads design teams for a number of large-scale waterfront and resilience planning projects across the firm—including the living breakwaters project on the south shores of Staten Island which was highlighted during his presentation. In an effort to make the New York harbor more resilient, Brad worked on a team to envision a new model of coastal adaptation—a layered approach that created a culture of resilience. Uniquely enveloped in the history of the NY harbor, this project required the team to fully understand the existing habitats. Simulations were run to understand how water would move around the breakwater structures and promote biological growth. Breakwaters in-and-of themselves are not a novel piece of infrastructure, but this project was unique in that it considered habitat in the design. 

Nina-Marie Lister is professor in the School of Urban Planning at Toronto Metropolitan University where she founded and directs the Ecological Design Lab. Winner of the 2021 Margolese National Prize for design, she is a registered professional planner and landscape ecologist whose work connects people to nature in our cities. Nina-Marie examined Wildlife Crossings at Liberty Canyon—a project working across scales to “help wildlife move safely, where people must go safely, and where ideally we all have the freedom to roam” (an architectural project). This research was about more than human design, it was about how we connect and relate to one another differently. Her goal is to find a way to build roads differently; “we are on a literal, direct collision course with biodiversity,” Nina-Marie said, “we need to use new thinking and research to engage the design community to make structures that put nature on a path to recovery and reconnection.”