First Place Winner
BEASTIE: Biodiversity Enhancement and Support Tool for Individuals and Ecosystems
Design by
Aakriti Singh
Juror’s Comment:
Strong distributed spatial system integrating habitats into urban fabric with clear ecological layering.
Work on:
Refine architectural expression to give stronger visual identity to the network components.
Aakriti Singh
Aakriti Singh views architecture less as the creation of objects and more as the discovery of possibilities hidden within constraints. Originally from Nepal, her curiosity about how environments shape human experience led her to Barcelona, where she earned a Master in Advanced Architecture from the Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia (IAAC).
Her work explores how design can rethink ordinary spaces and systems to produce new spatial experiences. She is particularly drawn to the complexity of existing conditions, including dense cities, layered infrastructures, and overlooked urban sites, where limitations become catalysts for invention. Working across scales—from residential interiors to large-scale waterfront interventions—she approaches each project as a process of investigation, testing alternatives and uncovering opportunities that lie beneath the surface.
Celebrating Creativity & Vision
Winner’s Spotlight: An Exclusive Interview
Discover the story behind the victory — from concept to creation.
1. Concept & Vision
What was the central idea behind your proposal, and how did you interpret the concept of the “Symbiocene” in architectural terms? In what ways does your project challenge the conventional human-centered approach to design?
BEASTIE is grounded in a simple but urgent proposition: architecture must evolve from being an ecological burden to becoming ecological infrastructure.
The project interprets the “Symbiocene” as a shift from anthropocentric design toward symbiocentric urbanism, where buildings actively support life beyond human occupation. Rather than conceiving architecture as sealed shelter, BEASTIE positions it as a living framework capable of restoring habitat networks within dense cities.
Tested within the compact Mediterranean fabric of Barcelona, the project demonstrates how even highly urbanized environments can be recalibrated into multispecies systems. It challenges conventional design by treating birds, bats, and pollinators as spatial stakeholders, and by embedding biodiversity as a measurable design parameter rather than a decorative afterthought.
The vision is not to build more wilderness, but to transform the existing city into one.
2. Multispecies Framework
The brief encouraged reimagining buildings as living frameworks that support multiple species. How does your design accommodate flora, fauna, and ecological systems alongside human occupation?
The project begins with three indicator species: the House Sparrow, Common Pipistrelle, and Scarce Swallowtail. These represent avian, mammalian, and insect life within urban ecosystems. Each species has distinct requirements for food, shelter, reproduction, and movement, and these biological needs directly inform spatial design decisions.
BEASTIE reclassifies everyday architectural surfaces such as balconies, façades, ledges, courtyards, rooftops, and infrastructural edges as potential micro-habitats. Interventions are matched to three levels of agency: private individuals, building communities, and neighborhood actors. This ensures that biodiversity restoration is not abstract, but actionable at multiple scales.
The building envelope becomes layered and porous. It accommodates human life while simultaneously supporting nesting cavities, pollinator corridors, and bat roosting niches. Coexistence is not symbolic. It is spatially integrated.
3. Ecological Integration
How did you incorporate biodiversity, habitat creation, or ecological restoration strategies into your proposal? Are there specific ecosystems, species, or natural processes that informed your design approach?
Ecological integration is driven by a Habitat Suitability Index (HSI) model that synthesizes environmental data and urban stressors into a weighted evaluation of habitat potential. This analytical layer ensures that interventions respond to real ecological conditions rather than aesthetic assumptions.
A catalogue of forty-eight lightweight, retrofittable solutions forms the operational core of the project. These include modular planters, nesting add-ons, bat roosting niches, permeable garden patches, and climate-responsive ecological shading systems. Each intervention is evaluated across three impact dimensions: biodiversity support, environmental quality, and microclimate regulation.
By combining ecological science with architectural strategy, BEASTIE restores functional relationships. These include feeding habitats, reproduction spaces, pollination routes, and thermal moderation within the urban fabric.
4. Urban Ecosystem Thinking
If your project were implemented within a real urban context, how would it contribute to transforming the city into a functioning ecosystem? What broader urban or environmental impact do you envision?
BEASTIE proposes the city as a distributed ecological mesh rather than a collection of isolated green zones. Instead of relying on large parks alone, the project activates thousands of underutilized micro-surfaces across dense districts.
When aggregated, small-scale interventions create stepping-stone habitats that enhance connectivity between existing ecological anchors. The cumulative impact extends beyond species support to include improved air quality, urban heat mitigation, and strengthened environmental resilience.
The broader vision is a city that functions metabolically, where architecture participates in ecological cycles rather than interrupting them.
5. Architectural Language & Materiality
How does your choice of form, materials, and spatial language reflect regenerative or symbiotic principles? Did you draw inspiration from natural systems, biomimicry, or ecological patterns?
The architectural language of BEASTIE is additive and regenerative rather than demolitive. It prioritizes retrofitting over replacement, embedding ecological systems into existing structures.
Formally, the project embraces porosity, layering, and inhabitable thickness. Façades become stratified surfaces capable of supporting vegetation, cavities, and climatic modulation. Materials are selected for durability, adaptability, and compatibility with plant and animal life.
The visual transformation reflects this shift. Sterile envelopes evolve into textured, seasonally responsive ecologies. Architecture is no longer a barrier between city and nature. It becomes the medium through which they intersect.
6. Climate & Resilience
In the face of climate change, how does your proposal respond to environmental challenges such as heat, flooding, resource scarcity, or habitat fragmentation?
In the face of climate change, biodiversity and resilience are inseparable. The project addresses urban heat islands, habitat fragmentation, and environmental stress through integrated ecological design.
Vegetated systems enhance evapotranspiration and shading, improving thermal comfort. Permeable and planted surfaces contribute to humidity balance and air filtration. Habitat connectivity strengthens ecological resilience in rapidly urbanizing environments.
Rather than designing resilience exclusively for human comfort, BEASTIE advances multispecies resilience. A stable urban future depends on ecological continuity.
7. Speculation & Innovation
The competition encouraged speculative and imaginative thinking. Which aspect of your design pushes boundaries the most, and how do you see such ideas influencing the future of architecture?
The most speculative dimension of BEASTIE lies in its digital simulator. The platform translates ecological data into an accessible interface that allows users to select species, apply spatial interventions, and visualize projected biodiversity and environmental impact in real time.
This reframes architecture as participatory ecological governance. Citizens are not passive occupants. They become active contributors to habitat restoration.
The innovation is systemic rather than purely formal. Biodiversity becomes quantifiable, comparable, and embedded within everyday spatial decision-making. Such tools could influence future architectural standards where ecological gain is assessed alongside energy and carbon performance.
8. A Message for the Future
If your project could communicate one powerful message about architecture’s role in addressing biodiversity loss, what would it be—and why?
Architecture can no longer measure success solely through efficiency or aesthetics. Biodiversity must become a core design metric.
Cities stand at a crossroads. They can continue accelerating species decline, or they can evolve into refuges for life. The built environment is not separate from ecological systems. It is one of their most powerful agents.
BEASTIE argues that even the smallest urban surface can contribute to ecological restoration. When multiplied across a city, these micro-interventions have transformative potential.
The future of architecture is not about controlling nature. It is about designing with it.
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