Legendary
Bird Home 2021

Dziupla was the strong favourite among the jurors for its modularity and simplicity. The proposal is a design for a ready-to-assemble kit intended for urban settings. The jury wrote, “Dziupla offers a fun, interactive experience for both birds and humans. The project encourages participation, awareness, creativity, and neighbourliness. Cities are where birds have less places to live due to lack of trees and an increased number of pest birds – this could offer an opportunity to grow the population of other birds. The project’s form fulfils the most important functions that a good design of a nesting box should have: safety of use, ease of installation, and appropriate technical parameters. The proposal reflects a simple but elaborate design, and the firing of the wood is an interesting idea to make the traditional birdhouse material wood watertight. But what is missing is a peg underneath the entry hole where the bird could safely land.”

Urban Bird Sanctuary offers a design for a hexagonal wooden bird home with an integrated planter. Like the first - prize winning entry, it is intended for urban settings, where its shape permits endless configurations of this product on the sidewalls of buildings. The jury commented, “This entry considers various needs of the birds. This entry creates a mini ecosystem for nesting that is adaptable, simple, and beautiful in its execution. The ability to fix this object on surfaces, its ease of use, and its multifunctionality make it a strong project. It is also graphically represented in a strong way by showing the different layers of the project. One recommendation is to have the option to open the front walls or offer adapted entry holes to suit more species.”

Symbiosis is a wooden bird house with a top shelf for integrated planting, intended to be fixed to urban guardrails or balconies. Its design is a response to the growing abundance of tiger mosquitos in Europe, which are a threat to birds: the integrated planter is meant to hold aromatics such as rosemary or basil, which repel mosquitoes but attract other insects that birds may consume as food. The jury writes, “Symbiosis reframes the brief with a unique perspective. Conceptually, the piece strives for sustainable living with its design for 'symbiotic' cohabitation. One concern, however, is the intended location on balconies, which may be too proximate to humans.”