KOLONI
Purple Martin Housing
3rd Year Studio - 6 Weeks
Designing for multiple users, both human and feathery friends.
The brief for this project was to design a birdhouse specific for a bird species of our choice, keeping in mind requirements for the birds themselves as well as assembly, ease of use, and maintenance for human users.
RESEARCH & KEY CONSIDERATIONS
I chose to research and tackle the unique needs of the Purple Martin species.
Martins like to live and breed in large colonies of just a couple pairs to several dozens.
They live almost exclusively near people in birdhouses, and love open areas, often near water.
Houses are large structures with many rooms, and must be kept up high but easy to maintain.
IDEATION
I began sketching various fun concepts for birdhouses, pulling various metaphors from nature, and keeping in mind words such as modular, connection, and patterns.
CONCEPT DEVELOPMENT
After several explorations, I landed on a unique design that spoke to me — inspired by flags blowing in the wind and the biology of armadillos, which provided both fun and functional aspects to the product.
FINAL PRODUCT
Components & Assembly
Features
Modular System
The frame system allows human users to easily maintain, take away, and add nests without interfering with one another. Users can build their colonies to their desired size between 7-28 nests.
Comfortable and Manageable Nests
Individual nests are carefully designed for Purple Martins and their caretakers. Human users can easily open the roof to perform nest checks. The roof brim provides rain protection while the white finish ensures maximum heat reflection. The nest features a Starling-resistant entry hole, with plenty of ventilation and drainage holes. Finally, the use of cork as the primary material provides several unique benefits.
