Wildlife Design Competition shortlist announced

Eight designs have been shortlisted in the Wildlife Design Competition, run by Holbeck Urban Village in Leeds.

Architects, artists and designers were asked to create animal habitats suitable for wildlife as part of the inner-city regeneration project.

The shortlisted entries are:

• The ‘Bat Boat’, which recycles an old timber canal boat as a timber cavern for bats, by Annalise Riches of Riches Hawley Mikhail Architects
• The Singing Branch, a clip-on, tree-like housing for sparrows, by Baharash Bagherian of Design & Research Studio Baharash
• Giant terracotta leaves on stems for insects and bats, by landscape architect Chris Arscott;
• A lantern hive for insects, by London-based architects and designers Gregory Cowen, Annick Collins and Natalie Skeete
• The Butterfly Pillow, a multi-layered haven for butterflies which responds to local climatic conditions, by Harini Rajaharman, from Berkeley, California
• Urban Takeback, a treehouse-style tower block recycled from old buildings, by Neil Oxlee of Garnett Netherwood Architects
• Plans for shelter, food sources and a Green transport network to cater for a range of wildlife, by Richard Storah of Atorah Architecture and Penny Bennett in Todmordon
• The Modular Birdhouse, terraced-style housing for birds with a mini-allotment space for insects, by Tristan Wigfall, Chris Bryant and Caspar Rodgers from London

Artist Pippa Hale, who sits on the competition judging panel, says, ‘The brief was quite broad to encourage people to be as creative as possible, and that’s certainly what we received.

‘We were treated to a kaleidoscope of solutions for a range of species which were often strikingly beautiful, off-the-wall and wildly ambitious.’