“In an attempt to bring visibility to bats, Bat Tower challenges notions of the typical off-the-shelf bat house,” explained Hwang. “Rather than innocuously fading into the background, the tower stands as a prominently visible outdoor sculpture.”
But the impressive tower, with its triangular plywood slats that bend back-and-forth, is more than a piece of art; it is a “vertical cave” that provides shelter and habitation for bats, which are threatened by both natural disease and human “pest control.”
Working with students at the University of Buffalo, Hwang also created “Bat Cloud” in the city’s Tifft Nature Reserve. The cloud is a “hanging canopy of vessels that is designed and constructed to support bat habitation.” From a distance, the vessels appear as a cloud, or perhaps part of an enchanted forest from a Tim Burton film. Either way, each vessel’s plants and soil provide shelter for local bats.
Looking forward, Hwang is working on a second iteration of Bat Cloud for the International Architecture Biennale Rotterdam this spring. And through future projects like Habitat Wall and Pest Wall, she hopes to continue using design to improve conditions for wildlife and our connection to the natural world.
The latter project, for example, will provide shelter for bats and other wildlife within an urban environment. Hwang says the project aims to “question our embattled notions of the word ‘pest’ by intensifying the visibility and awareness of typically ‘undesired’ animals that are critical to our urban ecosystems.”
Ultimately, the architect is interested in pursuing “projects that are about inclusion of multiple species in the built environment.”
