Mainstreaming biodiversity through insect conservation.

Harvard Graduate School of Design: Designs For Insects.

Scientific advising for a graduate landscape architecture studio on human-insect design relationships. Fall 2021.

Client Harvard Graduate School of Design — class titled “ENTO: Fostering Insect/Human Relationships through Design”, led by Gena Wirth, Design Principal at SCAPE Studio. Co-presenter: Dr. Jeremy Andersen, UMass Amherst.

The Opportunity. SCAPE Studio’s Gena Wirth imagined an innovative graduate studio at Harvard GSD, asking students to consider needs and roles of insects through applied research as design action. The work needed entomological grounding to keep student proposals ecologically coherent.

What ABC Did.

  • Presented foundational insect ecology and conservation content to the studio.
  • Advised student projects throughout the semester from research to site-based design.
  • Helped assess the final gallery showing on both design and ecological terms.

Outcome. Student projects advanced into site-specific design proposals across rural, suburban, and urban Massachusetts landscapes. The studio was featured in Harvard GSD’s news coverage.

For Projects Like This. ABC partners with architects, landscape designers, and design educators where ecological credibility is a design requirement. When the design needs to actually work for insects – we’re a good first call.