• Fly Inn
  

   

  Why would anyone want to provide a five-star retreat for garden-variety pests? Because, quite simply, insects will watch your back if you watch theirs. Given a comfy place to nest in all weather, spiders will eat the mosquitoes, bees will pollinate the daisies and those lovely butterflies – well, they aren’t pests at all are they?

   

  Most bugs aren’t picky, and building a DIY insect hotel from found materials is so easy that it’s been a popular hobby in the European countryside for decades. A few wooden logs or sticks, rolled up paper and cardboard, and a hot glue gun (if you really have to) are enough to construct a holiday home for a variety of native arthropods. Although insect communities are generally more than capable of DIY-ing their own rather superior hives and nests, many insects are solo animals, and some, like solitary bees, don’t build homes for themselves. They just need shelter, and maybe even a bit of social interaction – so if you’re hoping for even more beneficial bugs around, you might consider hosting a singles mixer at the local insect hotel on Saturday nights. p (ew)

  The Heimanshof Garden in the Netherlands hosts 20 insect hotels on its grounds. (Photo: Bob Daamen)

• COVER

  COVER

  Cover

  Animal House
• Table of contents

  Table of contents
• EDITORIAL

  EDITORIAL

  Editorial

  Animal House
• CASE STUDY

  CASE STUDY

  Jumbo Dome

  The new Kaeng Krachan Elephant Park, Zurich

  Text: Roderick Hönig
• FOUND

  FOUND

  "I will name him George..."

  Michelle Bours' pet portraits

  Text: Sophie Lovell
• INTERVIEW

  INTERVIEW

  The Logical Path

  Interview with the extraordinary Temple Grandin by Sophie Lovell

  Text: Sophie Lovell
• FOUND

  FOUND

  The Empty Cage

  Artist Wesley Meuris' melancholic zoo

  Text: Elvia Wilk
• PHOTO ESSAY

  PHOTO ESSAY

  Social Housing

  Bird communes in the Kalahari photographed by Dillon Marsh

  Text: Fiona Shipwright
• CASE STUDY

  CASE STUDY

  Crabby Chic

  Artist Aki Inomata's real estate for hermit crabs

  Text: Elvia Wilk
• FOUND

  FOUND

  Tanks For All The Fish

  Shopping mall-as-aquarium in Bangkok

  Text: Fiona Shipwright
• ESSAY

  ESSAY

  Beastly Designs

  Ned Dodington's barrier-free survey of zoo architecture and design

  Text: Ned Dodington
• FOUND

  FOUND

  Fly Inn

  B&B's for bugs

  Text: Elvia Wilk
• ESSAY

  ESSAY

  Homes Without Hands

  Instinct or intelligent design? The nineteenth century debate on animal architecture

  Text: Irene Cheng
• CASE STUDY

  CASE STUDY

  Kitty Kawaii

  Cat Island in Japan

  Text: Florian Heilmeyer
• FOUND

  FOUND

  Pigeon Pylon

  Oscar Niemeyer's dovecot

  Text: Rob Wilson
• FOCUS

  FOCUS

  Down On The Farm

  Good design for livestock

  Text: Elvia Wilk
• FOUND

  FOUND

  The Final Indignity

  Animal furniture

  Text: Fiona Shipwright
• NEXT

  NEXT

  Next

  Poland

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