This fall, returning UBC students will be joined by hundreds of bees and bats who have taken up residence on campus.

UBC School of Architecture and Landscape students have designed three pollinator homes to study how these small creatures adapt to urban environments.

The homes can be found on the green roof at the Centre for Interactive Research Sustainability. All three are constructed out of recycled materials that will eventually disintegrate, exposing seeds that will grow into plants to feed the pollinators. Another three homes will be installed at a pop-up at Fifth Avenue and Pine Street in Kitsilano.

The project developed out of a design class led by associate professor Blair Satterfield. Students collaborated with UBC SEEDS Sustainability Program and CityStudio Vancouver for the project in an effort to co-create an experimental, environmentally conscious urban project.

“Increasingly, students are very interested in more than just the construction of buildings,” Satterfield said in a news release. “They see a responsibility, I think as a generation, for environmental stewardship.”

The students will be monitoring how the bees and bats adapt to their new homes, applying their findings into research about the roles designers can play in helping pollinators thrive within an expanding city.