London Bat House

location: LONDON, ENGLAND

client: RIBA

The WWT London Wetland Centre held an open competition for the design of a year-round habitat for bats in the London area. We wanted to create a safe space that addresses their needs while offering the public a sense of interaction with the bats and education about the 15+ species. We chose a design that included a cluster of houses, a cave, and bridge – the three most common spaces used by bats for roosting. The houses are viewable to the public from an observation platform, where people can watch the spectacular sight of masses of bats flying into the open sky at dusk. The bridge habitat is actually the underside of this platform, which incorporates wooden slats spaced apart for bats to roost. There is also a glass panel on the floor of the platform where visitors can look into the cave and view the bats without disrupting them.