Pico’s New Home…

https://ambergriscaye.com/photogallery/140711.html

Peeko’s nest is our attempt to rethink the archetype of the cage as a physical language rather than an enclosure, addressing the physical , corporeal nature of a cage, as well as its symbolic power, its capacity to abstract, to represent idea of nature, and inform relation between species. Taking inspiration from how the Montezuma Oropendola shapes its habitat, we decided to keep that in mind, during the design process.

Concept sketches

Peeko, who stayed in a regular bird cage in the not so regular Valldaura seemed like a good client to us when we were deciding which bird to focus on for our design. We then began a more careful analysis of her behavior patterns which helped us to arrive to a more informed design. Since Peeko is a domesticated animal, we also had to analyze our interacion with her. In terms of taking her out of the cage, as well as cleaning and feeding aspects.

To best select the form we parametricised the form development. Keeping in mind a birds interaction inside and outside her enclosure we arrived to a form which we think suits her the best and also responds to context it sits in.
When we finally handed Peeko her new home she chirped with joy:

To prototype the cage we used:
1.5 sheets of 15mm x 2040mm x 1500mm plywood
4 sheets of 5mm x 1200mm x 900mm plywood
juta string

The trunk from an oak tree in the center gives a more natural setting to Peeko who loves to climb around it and walk to the skin…

The Bird House is a project of IAAC, the Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia, developed in the Master in Advanced Ecological Buildings and Biocities (MABB01) 2021/22 by students: Agnieszka Szklarczyk; Prasidh Choudhary; Leif Riksheim; faculty: BrunoGanem Coutinho