Year
2021Location
Mill Race Park, Columbus, INDescription
To Middle Species, With Love amplifies habitat conditions for urban wildlife—our co-inhabitants of the built environment. These bats, birds, amphibians, and reptiles—which we call “middle species” in contrast to “flagship” species—are common in our communities and ecosystems, yet often remain invisible in the imaginations of where we as humans live.
Made out of Indiana hardwoods, the installation provides bird perches and functions similarly to the bat houses used by the endangered Indiana Bat—one of 13 bat species in Indiana. Dry-stacked stone mounds offer habitat for smaller terrestrial creatures.
The process of creating this project involved working with students and staff at the University at Buffalo, and a range of interdisciplinary collaborators, including biologists, engineers, and musicians. To sense the less-visible world of urban wildlife, the project taps into sound, specifically bat echolocation, by using ultrasonic detectors to record bat calls. The translated high-frequency recordings are used as source material by musicians to create soundscape compositions.
Credits
By Joyce Hwang, with UB School of Architecture and Planning.
Commissioned by: Landmark Columbus, for Exhibit Columbus.
Curators: Mimi Zeiger, Iker Gil.
Exhibit Columbus Director: Anne Surak.
Associate Curator: Janice Shimizu.
Landmark Columbus Executive Director: Richard McCoy.
UB Student Assistants: Nicole Sarmiento, Bethany Greenaway, Anh Shavindya Seneviratne Do, Petreen Thomas, Rosanna Valencia, Isabelle Dabrowski, Yukta Satpute, Sneha Arikapudi.
UB Faculty and Staff Assistants: Gregory Delaney, Wade Georgi, Albert Chao.
Consultants: Mark Bajorek (Structural Engineering), Wade Georgi (Fabrication), Timothy Shier and Indiana Department of Natural Resources (Ecology).
Sound artists: Shawn Chiki, Zach Williams/ Onokio.
Material support: Estes Materials, Indiana Hardwood Lumberman’s Association, Alp Steel, Lenco Lumber, Nut and Bolt, Wade Georgi. Additional support by: UB Department of Architecture.
Photo credits: Hadley Fruits for Exhibit Columbus, Bethany Ferril for Exhibit Columbus, David Schalliol.
Selected Recognition
Exhibit Columbus University Design Research Fellowship 2020-2021.
Exhibit Columbus, “New Middles,” Columbus, IN, USA (August 21 – November 28, 2021).
Mapping the Middle: Design Research Conversations, Colloquium presented by Exhibit Columbus, Ball State University, and Indiana University, Columbus, IN, USA (Panel discussion, 2021).
Architecture and the City Ecosystem, Chicago Architecture Biennial in partnership with Exhibit Columbus, Chicago, IL, USA (Presentation and panel discussion, 2021).
Exhibit Columbus 2021, Opening Weekend Events, Columbus, IN, USA (Speaker in guided tour and panel discussion, 2021).
“Architects Want You To Live With Bugs,” in Stewart Hicks – YouTube Channel (2024).
“Exhibit Columbus 2021: New Middles” in SCI-Arc Channel (December 15, 2021).
“Incorporating Empathy: To Middle Species, With Love, Columbus, Indiana” by Joyce Hwang, in Empathic Design, editor: Elgin Cleckly (Island Press, 2024).
“Environment as Collaborator” by Joyce Hwang, in Log 54: Coauthoring, editors: Ann Lui and Ana Miljački (2022).
“The 2021 edition of Exhibit Columbus asks ‘What Is the Future of the Middle City?’” by Anjulie Rao, in Architects Newspaper (September 27, 2021).
“Exhibit Columbus Opens in Indiana” by Stephen Zacks, in Architectural Record (August 25, 2021).
“Exhibit Columbus’ 2021 University Design Fellows Bring Architecture Research to Life in the Midwest” by Katherine Guimapang, in Archinect (September 30, 2021).
“Exhibit Columbus Returns To Indiana’s ‘Athens of The Prairie’” by Chadd Scott, in Forbes (September 8, 2021).
“The 2021 Exhibit Columbus Explores the Conditions of Middle Places” by Andreea Cutieru, in Arch Daily (September 3, 2021).
“Architects create Indiana installations as Exhibit Columbus opens” by Hannah Silver, in Wallpaper (August 28, 2021).
“’New Middles’ Across Columbus” by John Hill, in World-Architects, (August 24, 2021).