The Critters Black Den is a multispecies pavilion that engages, with its materiality made of water, colored light, organic and inorganic materials, like flowers, trunks, plastic, and e-waste, with many different species, from insects to birds, to, obviously, human beings.
The black color in the glossy painted plywood and branches, but also in the use of black e-waste components, is functional to the attraction of extremely relevant water bugs like dragonflies, who would perceive that as a water surface due to their particular polarized vision. E-waste is also repurposed in furniture and other details of the pavilion, to also reflect on reuse at large.
The lighting design of the pavilion is thought to attract, or else to result invisible, to important night pollinators such as moths. Understating their different vision systems is the base for designing a lighting installation that is specific for each species.
Developed with Matteo Marabelli.
Collaborator Tikumporn Panichakan.