Atelier Marko Brajovic draws from bird and insect nests
At Casacor São Paulo 2025, Atelier Marko Brajovic presents Ninho, a prototype of bio-urban equipment that invites humans to slow down, reconnect, and imagine cities as multispecies habitats. Part architecture, part installation, and part exhibition, Ninho nestles into Parque da Água Branca like a light ecological intervention, built from pinewood and recycled plastic. Soft, egg-shaped sofas encourage visitors to lie back, observe the sky, take in the trees, and listen to the ambient sounds of the park. Inspired by the clever ways birds and insects build their homes, this project combines design, nature, and city life to explore how our cities could change to better include and support non-human life. It invites us to think, feel, and imagine a future where people and wildlife can live side by side.
all images courtesy of Atelier Marko Brajovic
Animal Architects Exhibition accompanies the Ninho installation
Conceived by the Brazilian team of Atelier Marko Brajovic, Ninho embodies a soft, hybrid typology. Inspired by the nests of the boldest birds, those that scavenge at the urban fringe to weave together nature and artifice, the structure challenges traditional ideas of technology, materiality, and authorship. Inside this playful, porous space, people can lie back and gaze at the sky, exchange stories, or learn how animal architects have always outsmarted us.
Surrounding the installation is the Animal Architects Exhibition, curated by the studio, which dives deep into the construction habits of non-human builders. The show is divided into three sections. The first focuses on birds and insects, presenting intricate architectures made from fibers, wax, mud, and even urban debris as instruments of seduction, protection, and survival. Illustrations and models unpack the logic of collective construction and cross-species cooperation. The second section turns the lens back onto humans, showcasing design projects that borrow from animal-made blueprints and exploring biomimetic structures and ecological adaptation. Finally, the Multispecity section asks the big question: what might cities look like if they were truly shared with other forms of life?
bird-eye view of the nest
animals as master architects
In the curatorial text, Atelier Marko Brajovic paints a vivid portrait of animals as master architects long before humans shaped the built environment. Termite mounds with natural ventilation, bee combs with embedded logic, or birds crafting nests from plastic trash — these examples are not just curiosities, but provocations. They remind us that construction doesn’t necessarily require technology, only intention and adaptation. Animals build with bodies and instincts, responding in real time to ecosystems in flux. They improvise, evolve, and even thrive in the heart of our cities.
Completing Ninho is a sensitive landscape intervention by Ana Kamitsuji, who rewilds the surrounding square with micro-habitats that support pollinators and seed-dispersing fauna.
360 pieces of reforested pine were used, along with the application of 40 extruded recycled plastic panels
the panels of recycled plastic are engraved in white with the names of bird species that inhabit the park
Ninho scales up bird architecture to human proportions
part architecture, part installation, and part exhibition, Ninho nestles into Parque da Água Branca
these examples remind us that construction doesn’t necessarily require technology
inspired by the clever ways birds and insects build their homes
project info:
name: Ninho—prototype of a bio-urban equipment
architect: Atelier Marko Brajovic | @markobrajovic
location: Casacor São Paulo, Parque da Água Branca, São Paulo, Brazil
creative director: Marko Brajovic
operations director: Bruno Bezerra
coordinator: Kelen Giordani Tomazelli
lead architects: Teresa Lima, Priscila Sati, Ailton Wenceslau
landscape design: Ana Kamitsuji
exhibition: Animal Architects Exhibition
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edited by: thomai tsimpou | designboom
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