(IN)HABITATE

Typology: Wildlife Pavilion

Location: Torbiere del Sebino, Lombardy, Italy

Status: Proposal (FINALIST)

Year: 2023

INVASIVE

The Natural Reserve of Sebino has long had a history of invasive practices such as the peat extraction that destroyed this millennia-old carbon sink between the end of the 1700s to the middle of the 1900s as use for fuel. However, with the protection of local wildlife under the Natura 2000 network, the bog has become a sanctuary for local wildlife.

INVISIBLE

The design intends to minimize the impact humans have on the environment through the strategy of mimicking natural elements on site such as the tree, the mountain and the bog. Within these constructed settings, they will play a role that fits into the larger ecosystem through a study of local food webs and provision of habitats to the 3 types of bird species in the area – bog migrators, bog nesters and non-bog nesters. Although an emphasis is placed on sheltering wildlife, the activity of bird-watching is achieved through the design of open, semienclosed and enclosed spaces for the different bird-watching requirements. An anthropometric methodology was undertaken to determine openings and dimensions of spaces as used by a variety of visitors from hobbyists, to professional photographers and even student groups.

The materials chosen are also locally sourced from the Lombardy region and many even from the marsh itself through the selective use of only invasive species such as the Black Locust tree. In its essence, the design then seeks less to inhabit space but instead intends to create habitat within the space it inhabits.