Joyce Hwang, founder of Ants of the Prairie, leads a practice rooted in a radical question: What if we stopped treating animals as intruders in our cities and started designing with them in mind?

Joyce didn’t grow up immersed in the outdoors, but an early fascination—watching a bird dent a topiary bush to build its nest—sparked a lifelong curiosity about how wildlife negotiates our built environments. Her perspective shifted dramatically years later, when she was asked to specify bird deterrents for a building and discovered they often included electrified wiring to harm birds. Horrified, she began to ask deeper questions: How should architects engage with the natural world? What would it mean to treat animals as neighbors, not nuisances?

In this talk, Joyce shares her evolving body of work—projects that rethink architecture through the lens of environmental empathy. From bird-safe glass to insect hotels and her Multi-Species Lounge in Toronto—a hybrid seating and habitat installation—she challenges us to move beyond exclusionary design.

Instead of hiding from urban wildlife, how might we share space with them? Joyce invites architects to design not only for humans, but with care and responsibility for all the species with whom we share the city.