Design X Nature: Peckable Architecture at Fed Square

How do birds make their nests in urban environments?

Artist Bethany Kiss’s Peckable Architecture features biodegradable composite bricks designed for birds to peck apart and collect nesting materials. The bricks supply species-appropriate nesting materials that are increasingly scarce in urban environments where birds otherwise resort to plastic debris and cigarette butts. Each brick combines foraged natural materials, such as bark, casuarina needles, fine twigs, and moss, with an organic gelatin binder that holds the brick together during installation before gradually breaking down as birds remove material for nesting or as the brick naturally decomposes.

The novelty of this project lies in creating architecture that is intentionally designed to be dismantled by its intended users. Peckable Architecture embraces planned obsolescence as an ecological design strategy.

Peckable Architecture is part of a wider exhibition Design X Nature, on display at Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne (Australian Drylands Precinct) from 25 September–18 October 2026.

Image credit: Ricardo Simao courtesy RBGV