Multispecies Lounge

On The Bentway Studio’s terrace in a bustling new community, Multispecies Lounge aims to bring attention to urban wildlife in and around Canoe Landing Park and CityPlace that traverse and adapt in an often disorienting built environment in ways we may not be aware of. While acknowledging popular local species such as American Robins, Barn Swallows, and other charismatic songbirds, Multispecies Lounge equally highlights less-recognized urban fauna such as solitary bees and Dekay’s brown snake.

Designed by architecture duo, Double Happiness, this leisure space for interspecies encounters acknowledges the diversity of local inhabitants. Multispecies Lounge offers an opportunity for rest in the midst of migration seasons.The piece allows visitors to glimpse the ways birds and insects see beyond the human eye through white patterns and UV reactive details printed on a Ricoh UV flatbed printer.

The Multispecies Lounge consists of specially-designed furniture composed of locally upcycled materials for birds, insects and humans alike. Sit back against red cedar chairs and watch swallows nest and sparrows perch above; while small terrestrial beings relax below, amplifying nonhuman perspectives of our urban ecologies through a more-than-human lens.

Commissioned by the Bentway

Co-Presenters & Other Partners: 

• Fabricated by: Spielman Fabrication, WRGeorgi Fabrication 
• Engineering by Blackwell 
• Habitat fabrication by Jonathan Anderson Design + Technology Lab – The Creative School Toronto Metropolitan University