Description

Multispecies Lounge is a public installation, that encourages shared co-occupation, aiming to amplify and bring attention to urban wildlife in and around the Bentway and Canoe Landing Park in Toronto, Canada. Composed of an array of public seating, the project is an urban ‘lounge’ for human recreation, while it is simultaneously an aggregation of spaces designed for animal inhabitation and awareness, including bird houses, insect habitats, and hibernacula for smaller terrestrial animals. Habitat conditions in the project acknowledge familiar species of popular appeal, such as American Robins, Barn Swallows, and other charismatic songbirds, while equally providing for less-recognized urban fauna such as solitary bees and Dekay’s brown snake. Using renewable resources such as red cedar, as well as recycled/upcycled materials such as discarded construction waste, the project’s material ecology advocates for circular economies in design and construction.

Through QR codes, the project facilitates information-sharing about local urban wildlife through links to an online video series titled “Lounge Voices,” a series of short fictionalized narrations from a first-‘person’ account of neighborhood species. To approximate the experience of nonhuman perspectives, the installation features UV reflective graphics, as a nod toward insects and birds, and their ability to see beyond the light spectrum visible to humans. By using black light flashlights, visitors can experience the installation visually through UV light, amplifying visual perception through a more-than-human lens.
Since fall 2023, the project has been acquired and re-installed at York University in Toronto.