Architects Want You To Live With Bugs
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- Опубліковано 1 лис 2023
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From the hundreds of species like carpet beetles, bed bugs, to the unexpected guests like sparrows and raccoons, our homes are bustling with life. Learn about the surprising relationships between humans and these often-overlooked inhabitants, and the vital role they play in our domestic ecosystems. We'll challenge the traditional notions of home and explore the intricate web of life that exists right under our noses.
_Links_
Ants of the Prairie: www.antsoftheprairie.com/
Landmark Columbus: landmarkcolumbusfoundation.org/
Richard Jones' House Guests book: www.amazon.com/House-Guests-P...
Paul Dobraszczyk's Animal Architecture book:
www.amazon.com/Animal-Archite...
_Credits_
Camera Work and Video Editing by Evan Montgomery
'Multispecies Lounge' by Joyce Hwang and Nerea Feliz/Double Happiness, commissioned by the Bentway Conservancy
'To Middle Species, With Love' by Joyce Hwang / Ants of the Prairie, commissioned by Landmark Columbus for Exhibit Columbus. Photos by Hadley Fruits and Joyce Hwang
#HomeEcosystem #NatureInside #HiddenWorld #Biodiversity #EcoFriendlyHomes"
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_About the Channel_
Architecture with Stewart is a UA-cam journey exploring architecture’s deep and enduring stories in all their bewildering glory. Weekly videos and occasional live events breakdown a wide range of topics related to the built environment in order to increase their general understanding and advocate their importance in shaping the world we inhabit.
_About Me_
Stewart Hicks is an architectural design educator that leads studios and lecture courses as an Associate Professor in the School of Architecture at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He also serves as an Associate Dean in the College of Architecture, Design, and the Arts and is the co-founder of the practice Design With Company. His work has earned awards such as the Architecture Record Design Vanguard Award or the Young Architect’s Forum Award and has been featured in exhibitions such as the Chicago Architecture Biennial and Design Miami, as well as at the V&A Museum and Tate Modern in London. His writings can be found in the co-authored book Misguided Tactics for Propriety Calibration, published with the Graham Foundation, as well as essays in MONU magazine, the AIA Journal Manifest, Log, bracket, and the guest-edited issue of MAS Context on the topic of character architecture.
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University of Illinois at Chicago School of Architecture: arch.uic.edu/
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Stock video and imagery provided by Getty Images, Storyblocks, and Shutterstock.
Music provided by Epidemic Sound
#architecture #urbandesign
I work as a custodian at a college campus. I thought my job was to clean up after students. Over the summer break, I realized that my job was to clean up before and after insects. It amazes me how much "wildlife" lives in a building whether people are there or not. Its not only animals. So much plant, fungus, algeae, molds life thrives in a well maintained, climate controlled occupied or unoccupied building.
Environmental Engineer
It depends a lot on climate and location. Also the age of a building.
the termites in my walls:
I'm a high school custodian. We have bats, occasional racoons, mice galore and "water bugs" ahem roaches. Reminding college educated teachers that the mice will go elsewhere if they stop feeding them over and over. Explaining that blocking doors open is allowing furry friends to find a place to hide nets me blank stares🤣. Wait till the skunk families decide to join the party, there are several around the building along with fox. I worked at a school once that had coyotes living in the woods surrounding the building and snakes would appear inside fairly regularly. One season Turkeys popped up no doubt attempting to hide close to the building to avoid Wiley. Most folks have no clue how much wildlife is close by inside and out. Chances are that sound you heard wasn't a ghost
@@susanlippy1009where the hell is this? So cool
I enjoyed this video and it gave me some perspective. That said, there's nothing in this universe that'll convince me to want or even tolerate roaches in my home. I'd rather just live on a pedestal surrounded by a moat of fire.
🤣🤣
The only tolerable bug is the house centipede, it does what a spider does but no bites.
Yeah like even more that THING eating rotten things... It means it also brings disease with them same as mosquito.
Like fk them! I hate them so as all the flies.
you'll just have flying roaches 💀
@@m808bscorpionmbt3 House centipedes are nightmares with multiple legs. Fuck. No.
I think the issue isn't always bugs, but what they bring with them. I even tolerate cellar spiders somewhat, the issue is that they have to go at some point because the frass left behind tends to be an invitation for mold and that's the real problem with them being in the house as it's an allergen.
This is why I have designated areas I will and won't allow spiders where I can more easily clean up under the nest, and will move them there if necessary. Up in the corner of the living room over the easy to vaccum spot? Not a problem, over my bed? I don't think so bub
That's why we have to see ourselves as member and moderating influence of the home ecosystem, as we have been from the beginning. Cleaning things isn't the antithesis of that ecosystem, you are just the cycle they have to live by and always have.
Yeah spiders ironically the best of homies. They even ate many dangerous bugs. I visited them once in a while and I just saw it devouring mosquito.
Gotta thx them for keeping my family safe lol
All my family somehow be like "Ah it's our buddy" Even my 7 years old brother loves them
But other bugs? Yeah... It's just annoying me and everyone...
Frass... that's a nice new word I've never heard before. I'll probably start seeing it everywhere now...
But yeah spiders are absolute bros, i've got a couple in the kitchen who have huge webs with dozens of various flies in... I should really clean that up and give them a reset. Though it's getting cold now so they might move elsewhere. I wish them well, they have been doing work.
Mouse shit in flour, moths in dried food, eaten wool, BED BUGS, sorry, maybe spiders but not disgusting pests
Speaking of corridors what I always encourage people to do is to leave a 3 feet (1 yard/meter) edge around their lawn as un-mowed nature. I imagine all the edges could connect into a network of nature.
In America mowing all the grass is driving a lot of types of wild flowers to near extinction. I follow this guy on Instagram and he was supposed to be directing a wild flower tour in a protected environment and the tour came to find that it was all mowed to the ground. They put up a sign but the mowers just mowed around the sign. Now they are trying to raise money to put up a fence to keep the lawn mower fanatics out. :P
The mowing is harmful in every way, and it wastes lots of resources, generates pollution.
Large lawns in the country use the opposite tactic. Mowing your perimeter firmly establishes your boundary, and the interior of the field can remain unmown.
If it was Colorado dry grass would increase fire, I think that’s why they cut it.
@@DeniseSkidmore great idea... keep the rabble out and eliminate any chance of you or your children making friends with the locals!
It's better to have a "wild" garden of native plants rather than having a lawn. It's better for the environment on so many levels.
Also, we have a ton of houseplants in our home, so many that there are almost no flat surfaces available for anything else. Captured spiders are relocated to our plants so they can help keep the plants pest free.
Keeping your home clean, and food stored properly is so important. If you live in an apartment you have no control of your neighbors, but if there are cockroaches in your building and they make it into your apartment, they will not stay for long if there is nothing to eat.
That doesn’t mean you have to obsessively bleach your apartment. Just clean your apartment regularly, especially bathrooms and kitchens. Be aware of food crumbs and spills when they occur. As a kid, my family never wore shoes in the house.
All too often people’s reaction is to spray when they see cockroaches, but that just leads to the insect species becoming more resistant and exposes humans to potentially harmful chemicals.
I lived in apartments for years and rarely saw cockroaches, and never saw them in any of my childhood homes.
The cockroaches are slowly evolving to become immortal!
@@InventorZahran Yes, the genome of cockroaches is incredible. As a species, they just keep picking up genetic tools to survive whatever is thrown at them. Perhaps they will soon be fireproof.😀
Cockroaches really just need a moist environment, so just don’t have leaks, or dripping faucets.
Food isn't the only reason why they come inside. You can keep every morsel of food hermetically sealed, but if there's a crack they can squeeze through and it's cold/wet outside? They're coming in.
@@wyltedleaves Yes, cockroaches are very resilient creatures. They will even eat things that would surprise many people, but gravitate to where there is the best food available. If one removes their preferred food choices, they tend to move on to the next place.
Without food and water they will not stay.
Fun fact: most pigeons in cities are likely feral descendants of domestic pigeons.
Pigeons are actually rock birds that lived on the shorelines of the Mediterranean
@@Abp.Mars-Assemblyyes but we did end up domesticating them
and they spread a lot of disease and parasites.
@@Abp.Mars-Assembly bro way to try to sound smart but sound like an idiot instead
@@kamjohnson6877and we Abandoned them 😅
Here in Florida, we share our homes with brown anoles (daytime lizards) and house geckos (nighttime lizards). They’re our 24/7 natural pest control and I love them. We try our best to return them outside if they end up inside, otherwise they starve
Same here in Hawaii :)
Much better than mice
haha so true! im up in north florida and we get cute baby lizards that sneak in all the time, especially during spring/summer i feel like. not too hard to catch and release outside but if they find a hiding spot... well i just hope they come out again lol
I love the little lizards I see in my house sometimes they are so cute and they let me hold them for a while when they realize I'm not gonna eat them haha
Seems like there were more lizards in Florida when I was growing up. I don't know if this is true. Maybe I just spent more time outside.
I´m a professor focused full time on teaching ecoarchitecture in all possible ways and consider this one of the most valuable treasures I´ve found navigating the web over this matter. My deepest appreciation, Stewart and Joice.
In Japan some people say if you have a spider in your home don't kill it because it will protect your home. Spiritually, but also practically.
So I have a spider at home and in my office. I am actually extremely scared of bugs (except for bees, including butterflies) and I am trying to get over this phobia so I just name the bugs I see. Like George and Petunia or whatever pops in my head and I greet them like a fellow neighbor.
Growing up in a Russian home, we always had one big wild spider in the most bug filled room (usually the kitchen). It captures and ears the bugs, and we don't kill it.
I love spiders, and I’m happy to have them around. Sometimes I have to relocate them, but I never kill them if I can avoid it.
@@gregoryfilin8040 In Russia killing a spider believed to bring bad luck. I usually evict them - but that's not an option during the winter so I let them stay until spring.
it's like that when i see huntsmen and wolf spiders.
We have a fine colony of daddy longlegs spiders living in the house. They kill and eat all the other bugs, they mostly stay out of our way, you mostly don't notice them. They are active all year round.
As someone who's mostly recommended software content by UA-cam, these were different architects and different bugs than I anticipated.
I’m having difficulty imagining myself coexisting with ants.
My ants took the bait (peanut butter) off my mousetraps lol that was not helpful hopefully I only had the 2 mice that I trapped
You’re doing that now.
ya 😂 sorry but there's a difference between killing all the sparrows in china and keeping insects out of your house
At one house I didn't have an ant problem possibly due to the spider infestation I had instead. It isnt like they ever got in the way, but I'm sure it was a major contributing factor
Imagine how they feel...
The sparrow example is an interesting ecological study but is not really applicable to in door spaces.
The animal that should be welcomes into your home is the spider. They will eat all the other insects and keep them under control.
Some spiders are not only beneficial but informative. Common house spiders (Parasteatoda tepidariorum), for example, only set up in areas with a lot of insect traffic. If you see one in your home, you know that’s where bugs are getting in.
Depends on the spider. Some are fun and cool. Others can leave a nasty bite. Know your species.
*cue child in Australia staring at the footlong spider outside their window*
The kiddo: "Welcome in?"
I kick out the 'outdoor' species but any indoor evolved species get to stay in my house, they pay their rent in pest control!
@@ninjaydesAustralia plays by different rules. They actually pulled an episode of Peppa Pig from the airwaves because it showed the characters playing with a spider and they didn't want to encourage that behaviour.
I’m currently wrestling with how to respond to insect “neighbors” at my new address. Checked out the crawlspace and the ceiling (floor beams) were full of webs. And now I’m going back and forth - there’s a chance some of those spiders are black widows and I don’t like that idea, but on the other hand, I like the thought that pest insects would have to pass through Shelob’s Lair to get into my house through the floors.
There will be one kind of web spider, reasonably, and it will be the best at eating the other spiders. If you see a black widow take them all out, otherwise don't stress it.
Typically, black widows don't really like to live inside of your home. You are much more likely to find them in wood piles or rocks just outside of your home rather than on the inside. It's certainly possible, but just not all that common. They are also very very docile and bites are extremely rare. I personally don't free handle them myself, but you can find videos of people doing it online and they don't get bit.
The vast majority of spiders you are likely to find in your home are completely harmless to humans.
Yeah, the video title was deceptive. The researcher tried to elude house sterilization was bad but couldnt explain why. Most of the video was about outdoors animal habits not really indoors habitats. I rather keep my property sterile of absolutely everything short of people and I doubt the world outside would be affected. If a horse fly or a roach wouldnt move into a hornest or fire ant nest, it should respect my home too.
@@Abp.Mars-Assembly 0:42 Stewart did say why he wanted to let critters live in people's homes. He claimed those certain critters don't live anywhere else. And that people would be helping to preserve those species or something. But Idk about that. Why would some natural critters be so dependent on manmade structures? (I'm not talking about dogs who were breed to kind of depend on people. Tho dogs can survive on their own too.)
I also don't see why people can't keep their homes free of critters if they want. Or to design architecture to help prevent critters from entering people's homes.
get some mantids and release them in those areas. if there is food, they wont wander far, and they dont live very long so theyll do their job and then die. ANY spiders is too many, if you own the home. spiders leave liquid droppings, which tend to be all in a corner of a room, and before you know it the spider shit has turned to mold.
I let certain bugs live in my house - like spiders, crickets, and even the super creepy house centipede. I have had a bumblebee colony under my house for over 2 decades. There has been a bird couple nesting above my backdoor light for years. My shed was the home for a groundhog - he loved to eat weeds in my garden. I'm looking to add bat houses - I always liked watching them start their hunt at dusk when I was a kid. I'm fine sharing my home with animals as long as they are non-damaging.
That's great, thank you for helping our wild neighbours so much and for leaving the bees be! I love getting to know the other inhabitants of my home, most of whom are very helpful!
Nope. I don't want to "cohabitate" with roaches, ants, mice, rats, mosquitos, gnats, flies, bedbugs or parasites.
I don't mind bats, raccoons, mice, rats, possums, birds, and most of the previous animals as long as they remain OUTSIDE my home.
"No" on the raccons.
As an working ecologist, fantastic breakdown of the topic. Id encourage everyone who has the space to build micro ecosystems. You got a balcony? You can have a native pollinator garden easy.
Home Depot will love me because I will dump all of their foam sealant into any crack I can find and you won't stop me.
@@Cockdonut yes...because its your home...not theirs...
It's my ongoing mission to make my property awesome enough that a frog or toad will take up residence. No luck yet. Unfortunately, suburbia isn't fond of yards and gardens that are beneficial to wildlife.
I really didn't expect Bear to comment here. This just feels so random.
@@elliotgreason1364many frogs and toads return to the pond they were born in to copulate and lay eggs, you might need to introduce them yourself if you want any in your garden (either as adults while locked onto each other or bring some spawn and let it hatch in your pond)
I am curious about what you propose we do with fleas, mosquitoes, house flies, roaches, lice, termites, kissing bugs, bed bugs, scorpions, scabies, ticks, cloth moths, larder beetles, carpet beetles, mice, rats, and many other creatures that feed on our blood, transmit diseases, or destroy our food, clothes, houses, and possessions.
You under the impression that we’re the only large mammals they feed on. Or that they do so maliciously.
Would you like it if everytime you ate a burger you where smushed into a bloody smear.
Literally you don’t want ticks don’t wander into tick infested forests. Can’t avoid mosquitoes in warm wet climates and they don’t spread diseases intentionally. They’re already working on a way to solve that that doesn’t end up killing another group of pollinators.
Look, these guys were here first. And every attempt to get rid of them kills the planet we live in everyday. Stay updated on your vaccines and shit and you’ll be fine. We have been coexisting with face mites for years. You live with bugs grow up.
Imagine ignoring the point of the video this hard.
@@aff77141 when you don't like questions about your message...
@@aff77141 ah yes. A thing has good qualities, so I should not question any of the negative qualities 🤨. OP has a legit question
A lot of those species are taken care of by letting spiders be, and scorpions also eat most of the species you mentioned. As for mosquitoes in specific though, I personally like giving a space to lay eggs outside because their larva make great fish food and some smaller fish can be kept outside on porches or balconies to be a natural mosquito trap, though definitely check comparability and legality in your area before doing that. I'd love a bat box for the airborn mosquitoes though, but that requires getting out of an apartment and getting my own place first
Carpet beetles can cause dermatitis so they are not harmless. My poor brother and his kids had red marks all over their bodies from the irritating hairs on the larvae. They had to get rid of any carpet beetle food sources and of course remove as many as possible.
I agree that we need to get along with residents on our properties so I leave unmowed areas, plant native flowers and left I water source for al the small animals that need it during the droughts in the desert-like area I live in. Thanks for standing up for them.
Pretty much no insect is really harmless if lived with constanly and in numbers. Most of them shed and/or defecate material that can cause tissue irritation in people with allergies, this becomes worse over time eventually leading to developing new conditions. What this video suggests is insane. Our instincutal revulsion for most insects exists for a reason, it's an evolutionary adaptation that helps us avoid creatures that are either dangerous or simply harmful.
This video actually reminded me of how we used to get insects coming into the house in search of water. When we put a container of water outside for the birds, the amount of insects that appeared inside decreased. I speculated that either the birds that came for water were eating the bugs and/or the bugs were drawn to the closer source of water.
Cats didn't domesticate themselves, they simply enslaved humans as their loyal servants for convenience. 🐈
All hail the Great Meow!
And then decimated the small animals
Domestricate? That is an interesting new word 😅
I for one welcome our new feline overlords
@@sandrahiltz *ancient
I'd rather not have bed bugs or wild rats in my home. Basically if you keep your home clean and let a few spiders hang out in the corners you'll mostly be fine depending on where you live. Swallows and whatever building nests on your house are probably fine too (as long as it's not in the chimneys) bc most birds keep their nests clean.
A few years ago, Monocle magazine had an article about a landscape architect who designed a green corridor on the rooftops of urban Tokyo that allowed wildlife to migrate through the city, and also to connect people, especially children, with wildlife. I thought, what a cool idea!
Be careful with a green roof/wall. Most modern building materials don't last too well with things growing on them.
I can tolerate all kinds of critters around the outside my house, but I refuse to allow them to live in my house. I will continue to do everything I can to keep them out, even if it is impossible to get them all. If I wanted to live with bugs, I'd pitch a tent in the woods.
To be frank the only things I actively get rid of from my house are mosquitos and roaches, and sometimes ants if they're having one of their wars, the rest can do their thing. Luckily the lizards tend to take care of any roach, so I protect them from my dogs. A few times I wondered if I it was possible to bring in some of the tiny frogs living on the trees on the backyard inside the house so they get rid of the mosquitos.
You've convinced me. I am off to the pet shop to get a cute cuddly Polar Bear for my appartment 🙂 I think that generally speaking, presence of bugs in a house is interpreted as the owner not having good house cleaning which is why presence of bugs is seen as a negative.
This may be your most enlightening video to date and I thank you profusely! Now all I've gotta do is "unsee" the images in my head of roaches, centipedes, and spiders undulating on the walls of my tiny home. Those images creep me out profusely!
I have an unspoken pact with the spiders and centipedes in my house; If I don't see you where I sleep, I don't see you at all 🤝
Eeek. To an extent I ask: “what are you smoking?” On the other hand when I had a house in the woods I employed the maxim: outside my domain let’s dance and I won’t bother you Mr. Wildlife, but inside the premises including its protective membrane and structure you will die or be thrust outside. It’s a big world which must be shared sensibly.
The wood louse can be found in the home but I wouldn't call them "desert animals". They require a lot of moisture; some can tolerate low humidity but it is uncommon.
Seems perhaps an upper middle, upper class indulgence. For folks struggling socioeconomically, a notion like this might likely come across as tone deaf and removed from lived realities and its psychological toll.
Ultimately it appears still a matter of control wrapped in a different package. It’s still choosing to favour for example bats over another species. Nothing wrong with it just not sure conceptually it’s truly aligned with notions of an harmonious, balance ‘ecosystem’. It’s an interesting idea nonetheless.
absolutely, after years of living in shitty dorms with dirty neighbors i want comfort inside my 15 m2 rented studio, i dont feel obliged to tolerate any crawling crap
As much as the idea of seeing "bugs" of all kinds living around, in and out of the home seen as icky, it is interesting how nature and architecture is intertwined in a unique way. In fact, as much as we see our home as separation of nature and in some cases above nature, yet your video got me thinking that overall nature tries its hardest to return us to the fold albeit slow and harsh. Love the video Stewart :)
If it makes you feel any better the majority won't be seen. Most inverts live in dark, secluded areas where you don't go often. Having stuff like leaf litter, decomposing branches, and rocks in your garden/yard can provide so much food and habitat and the little critters that benefit won't generally be seen unless you look for em.
Indeed! Little friends and little shelter spaces for the critters :) Though I do have some fear of them, I respect for what they are and why they are vital for our well-being. @@elliotgreason1364
What an eye-opening topic this is. I would have never thought of our home as an ecosystem too. Thanks for the video.
👍 Wow! I haven't seen anyone use "Too" correctly in a LONG time! 🤯👏👏👏
See, the thing is, I'm perfectly happy to share my home with various animals. The problem comes about from the animals not being able to understand the boundaries for where I don't mind them being. For example, the spider building its web in the corner of the bathroom, where we stare each other down as I use the toilet? Perfectly fine, encouraged, even. But the spider nesting in the shower, or across a space I need to pass through? This isn't a good place to build, my friend; your web is going to keep getting destroyed by accident, and we're both going to be upset about it. But the worst is the spider I found in my bed, or the one who was hanging out in my pants when I put them on, and was confusedly skittering about all over my body inside my clothes. It's just... "Sir! This is unacceptable! Either you go outside, or one of us is going to have to die, as we cannot coexist like this."... you know?
I keep my open drinks under a spider web on my desk to keep the flies out and the spiders get to eat the flies
I love how this channel keeps digging up interesting angles of the built environment. This is not the first video that changed the way i look at buildings... and i build them for a living.
I understand wanting to live in better harmony with the creatures we share the planet with, however, I still have not found a good reason, even from this video, to have them inside. Sure, have vines grow on the outside of my building that bugs can live in and maybe some overhangs bats can chill out under. That's cool. But there's zero reason for bugs or bats or birds to be inside my room, my kitchen, my toilet. Those places get maintained by myself. Now it's not the fault of the insects, but I won't have them eating wooden items, my clothing, or my food.
At university we were taught to use as few organic materials as possible. Insects primarily destroy wooden houses. Rats burrow in XPS, ESP insulation, etc.
Termites can't destroy a house made of stone/bricks and metal framing!
@@InventorZahranthose are also non organic
I really prefer this pace of talking/narration. Some of your recent videos in the past few months seem like they were purposefully amping up the words per minute in a way that seemed somewhat forced and it came off as a little erratic (imo). The pace in this video is a really nice balance, not too fast and not too slow. Either way, love all that you do! thanks for making such high quality and informative videos :D
That's cute
**tosses a bucket full of ticks to an architect's home**
i've been wondering for a while... what would it take to "domesticate" common household vermin like roaches? can't we design our homes with little tunnels for them to travel between waste collection areas so they can eat without coming into contact with actual humans? similarly, could we have hidden tracks and walkways for ants to travel around, perhaps even nest in? how about spiders? geckos? other bugs?
Geckos are actually fun to have around. I wouldn't mind seeing them in my home!
the issue with roaches and ants is that they will continually explore outside of the designated areas to pick up whatever food is dropped by humans. they have no reason to stay inside a hidden area if all the food is outside of that area.
most species of roaches don't cause infestations in houses. you can keep and breed dubia roaches in a plastic tub if you're really keen on having a bunch of little guys
Bed bug cognates are absolutely well represented in nature. Bats and squirrels particularly have them
I'm moving to space to get away from bugs
The bugs will follow you.
There are bugs in space already and there have been bugs in space ever since mankind first venture there.
The ISS definitely has bug infestations, its kind of unavoidable.
I'll pass over the millions of bugs who probably achieved escape velocity on debris thrown out by asteroid impacts.
The bugs will not follow unless we let them. It takes too long to travel the distance.
I live in an old cottage that isn't well sealed. It can be like an animal kingdom episode at times. Almost always some species of spider or other inside. I'm cool with them as long and they earn their keep by catching mosquitoes, ants and other bugs in their webs.
Thanks for providing free hosting to small-scale web developers! I'm sure you'll appreciate their effort to find and eliminate bugs.
Im in an appartment in a citiy and even i'm not a big lover of spider, i like them also because once they establish their web they don't really move from it and, they catch all other species i don't want live with it. 😄
I consider spiders as the most "socialisable" insect in our home.
Yeah, must be nice living in a place where there are no deadly insects around...
Pigeons live near us, because they're a feral domesticated species that we just abandoned. They cant exist without us.
And even before that, wild pigeons are natural cliff-dwellers. Buildings provide a lot of artificial cliffs in close proximity to human-generated food sources.
Pigeons live near me, because I feed them and ignore the law cause im a badass like that
Sure, there may be more individual organisms of other, non-human species living in a house, but their small size is why they aren't given as much consideration. In terms of biomass, you could combine all the bugs and birds and bats in an entire house and it still wouldn't be equal to the biomass of a single human child, let alone an adult. Humans make up the majority of the life inhabiting a house.
When I lived in an apartment in an architecturally significant 1890s townhouse in Covington, Kentucky, I had a huge beehive move into the ceiling of the bedroom in the early spring. The bees were also somehow finding their way inside through small gaps in the brick walls, but weirdly, clearly never through the bedroom, where the hive was actually located. On a warm day after a brief cold spell, I came home to four dozen bees that had tried to escape through the windows and spent their last hours of life buzzing desperately trying to get out. My landlord had to pay someone to relocate the colony, which involved cutting open the ceiling in the bedroom to remove the beehive, and sealing up the box gutter on the outside. The bees had found a small passage into the stud cavity below the roof through an area beneath the metal channel within the outer trim of the box gutter, and were always buzzing around that area. For some reason, they were also always swarming around another side of the house that was mostly a blank brick wall, which is where I believe they gained access to the apartment. It was remarkable to me how they found a place to live that was not very obvious.
In that apartment, I also occasionally saw a few spiders which I let be, and spider beetles in the bathroom and bedroom of that apartment, which never caused any problems. The only major problem was a small ant infestation from ground level three floors below the apartment. Similar to the bees, the ants found access through cracks in the bricks and were swarming into my dishwasher, which had dried remnants of wine, and into my cabinets to access a box of sugar that was in a plastic bag, which had developed a small hole, above the stove. It was remarkable how they were able to find my kitchen from so far away and get into the space through such small openings. Wasps, especially invasive European Paper Wasps, were an issue on the outside porch and outdoor staircase to the apartment entrance, even building nests inside the handrails of the staircase. However, I found them very easy to deal with, as they are not very smart, and have a difficult time understanding that you sprayed their nest with bug spray or dish soap. The house's windowsills and porch often attracted nesting native Mourning Doves, which did not seem to fear humans as much as other species of birds, and I could easily get within a few feet of them without the birds flying off.
I've had a lot worse issues with unwanted insects and animals at previous apartments, including my first apartment while working an architecture internship in Charleston, South Carolina, where the walls and floors were just wooden boards, and big Palmetto Bugs and spiders crawled out the gaps between the wooden boards on the walls and on one occasion, a Palmetto Bug jumped on me first thing in the morning in the bathroom when I was getting ready for work. I luckily had bug spray ready, but that is not an experience I want to have again.
I just want to live in a concrete bunker with walls and floors doused in the strongest poisons known to man.
At this point I want to live in a metal welded edge room so nothing can enter or exit unless I allow it lol
"Get in the pod and live with the bugs!"
This information is long overdue! Having grown up in DR Congo, I have come to understand the need to co-exist with others we share this planet with. Driver ants would often invade our house by the thousands and the best thing to do was move temporarily into another space for a day and leave them to clean the house of all dead things.
Spiders are welcome in my house here in the US - especially daddy long-legs - who patiently wait in the corners of rooms to capture and eat closet moths and fruit flies.
Carpenter ants and sugar ants can be controlled by placing a few dabs of Terro liquid in their pheromone trail. They eat this and share it with other ants including the queen of that particular nest (wherever it is), and it causes a failure of that colony alone and no others. Just because you spot an ant in your house does not require expensive and extensive spraying of chemicals in and around your house - which causes harm to far more good creatures than "bad" ones.
I fully agree, let's be thinking of the Umwelt of all creatures, not just we humans. An Umwelt is specifically the part of an animal's surroundings that it can sense and experience. It applies to humans, too. A good book on this subject is Ed Yong's, "An Immense World".
Humans are increasing in numbers and we can quickly damage our collective space. Let's not exterminate EVERYTHING that bothers us or that we've been told is bad.
Building airtight goes a long way toward reducing pests.
Where do you think your air comes from? If it was air tight, you would die of suffocation.
@@carissafisher7514 Airtight structures are required by code to have mechanical ventilation systems, these have screens and filters that keep out pests.
I will not live with ze bugs.
But I do everything I can to encourage life thriving in my yard. Which includes bats and even wasps. Wasps aren’t as aggressive as people act. I’ve been living with them for years and never been stung
Wasps, like a lot of animals, will only act aggressively if you make them feel threatened.
Untrue, what is considered 'nonaggressive' to us (literally walking by my fence every day, as one does, to get in and out of my home) was aggressive enough for the wasps that destroyed out fence. So no, I don't buy it. Wasps can live, just not in my infrastructure. Manmade structures specifically built for them, away from me? Sure!
Not all wasps are created equal lol 😂 some of them build nests by my front door and going out the door is apparently a sin. They had to go
I removed a couple of pieces of vinyl siding on my house to make a repair and the amount of dead bug carcasses behind the siding was amazing.
Any bugs that want to live near me must remain 100% unseen. The second I’m aware of one’s existence, it’s instant annihilation.
We're just applying artificial selection pressure towards stealthiness 😃
@@crash.override Which is fine! Out of sight, out of mind.
Carpet beetles literally do damage thou. Their larva eat furniture, blankets, and well carpets
Great video! I like how unbiased the four pests campaign and famine was compared to other videos I've seen that have briefly covered it like you
I used to remove spiders from my home when I would find them, then I found out that a lot of spiders can't survive in the outdoors anymore and are exclusive to indoor environments. Realizing that putting them outside was a death sentence I decided to start leaving them be. I've noticed since then that there are fewer species of bug that I really don't want inside my house like earwigs. And I also haven't seen an increase in bug bites in fact I've seen the exact opposite I wake up with less bug bites now than I used to. I know spider phobias are a real thing but if you can overcome them I have found that living with spiders is a real benefit. Start small have a fake spider in your house at first such as a Halloween decoration and once you're used to that start getting progressively smaller spiders until they don't seem to bother you anymore. Then you can try moving spiders outside of your house instead of killing them some species will do just fine outside. And then hopefully once you're used to interacting with spiders you'll be able to just leave them be.
I personally allow spiders to cohabit in my apartment because they just chill on the wall, they don't want trouble!
Can we make enough homes for people please before we start worrying about bugs.
Thus far, no insect has offered to help me with the monthly mortgage. Not even the energy bill. Freeloaders!
This was a very thought-provoking video! I love catching glimpses of backyard wildlife and even some of the rarer things that live in my house with me.
I'll call mammals or birds my neighbors, but no way in hell will I ever consider a bug to be my neighbor! Honestly I've moved a lot all over the US and China. I've lived in suburbs, rural areas, big cities. I can confidently say that the place to live if you don't want as many bugs is on higher floors - the higher the better. Even older buildings don't have as many bugs as a regular house if you're high enough. I've lived on the 5th, 10th and 27th floors and didn't have many problems with bugs on any of them. However on the 3rd floor or in houses, especially if surrounded by trees or if 20+ years old, lots of bugs.
I live in Idaho Falls and a few years ago the city passed a bee ordinance where people are allowed and even encouraged to keep bees, I wish it was more utilized but its good for the various community gardens we have around the city.
architects are actually thousands of bugs sewn up together into a human-shaped bag
I knew it
An interesting topic! Great production quality as always.
There is a community down the road from me (In southern UT) called Kayenta that has integrated the homes into the natural landscape. It is for rich people and I’ll probably never be able to afford to live there, but I absolutely love it.
The reason I bring it up is that we see all the desert creatures out there that we really don’t see in our standard American suburbia.
I realize this is addressing the ecosystem around humans and not a desert ecosystem.
I would add martens and cockroaches to the unwanted list. Spiders are bearable, silver fish appear to eat paper.
I'm all for redesigning cities and neighborhoods in general to be more walkable, and part of that will generally help wildlife and green things of all sorts instead of favoring... cars. I'm also for redesigning living spaces,and providing alternative places for the buggy sort of life on the outside of the home.
But I really can't stand the thought of a creepy crawly falling onto my face when I'm sleeping... ever. I'd still rather keep them out of the space I'm doing my inside-living. I don't mind finding a balance but I just... have to have that barrier. I mean hey... if bees and ants are incredibly strict about what's allowed in and what isn't, I think humans should be allowed the same courtesy.
I have a "wild" back garden in my suburban home. There are so many animals in the garden. I've watched generations of birds nesting and growing up. There has been a family of possums that came and went. Plenty of insects in the ground. I really like it, but nobody else in the neighbourhood has much nature in their property. They only have curated lawns or paved areas. The loss of nature in suburban areas is very sad.
I want to design the home in a way that isn’t welcoming to insects. I don’t mind them having specialised buildings, but I hate insects, and never want them in my home.
On my commute from Mukilteo to Marysville, Washington, years ago, I observed an apartment complex under construction in the vicinity of Boeing's operations. The bare framing was exposed for weeks to the intense Pacific Northwest's winter rains. I started to wonder how many other structures were built under similar conditions, and what kind of organisms they would eventually host. One hopes that things were allowed to dry out before the drywall went up.
Under the house if the house is lifted above the ground - So be it. Under the eves - Okay. In the wood shed - Fine. In the compost bin - To be expected. On the deck/porch - Tolerable. In the rubbish/trash/recycling - Not ideal.
But inside the home? No! Absolutely not, and I will exercise every tool available to prevent and eradicate, to cleanse and purify my home. My home is the small piece of the world I have carved out with my sweat for subjugation, and nothing shall enter my castle, my dominion without permission.
Every one is different, so each to their own. But if you live with rodents and insects indoors and invite someone over, and see their eye twitch as something scuttles past, you are likely being silently judged regardless of what they say.
please show us several present day architect living in and making their designs in a room/house with live/active bugs roaming around.... then we'll believe their 'agenda'
This. Sad that this naturalist ideology is showed down everyone's throat as we are just supposed to bend over nature unconditionally or something.
look out the HOA is coming
Thanks for highlighting this. I left the web in the corner of my room because it caught a mosquito. It's like the spider telling me 'you're welcome' 🕸
This was really interesting. I've often wondered at how bugs survive in our homes and the desert connection is really cool to see.
I think this logic of species diversity is often forgotten but extends really deeply into humans. The degree to which our bodies, our spaces and our societies are reliant on (and composed of and with) other species is incredible. I remember reading somewhere for example that only 10% of the cells in a human body are human and of course the 3000 species in the home makes sense in that same way.
I thought the whole point of nature reserves was to keep as many animals as possible far away?
If they're gonna share my space, they better get a real job and start paying me rent!
I got little fuzzy jumping spiders living in my home in the cracks of the ceiling.
They eat any flies and are super cute. I sometimes give them little water droplets.
I’m otherwise deathly afraid of any other spider.
Big fan of bats! Let’s go bats!
Didn’t expect this topic, but very nicely done🌲
My apartment complex makes sure to mulch *all the way up to* the wood clapboard siding..... you know, to ensure a continuous path for the termites. 🤦♀️
I wouldn't classify carpet beetles as harmless if you work with wool yarn.
Or if you have any fabric. They eat anything
So cool to learn about how architecture intersects with ecology!
great video as always! besides the 3 recommendations you mentioned, are there any other considerations/tips you have for making sure our homes can be more animal-friendly, or at least not harmful? and are there things that you can do while living in an apartment complex, where yard designs, light pollution (since a large portion would be out of your control) ,and roof installments might not be a possibility to take on or change?
you can turn your balcony into an animal friendly corner - plant some native plants, flowers etc + you can install a little solitary bee hotel or make your own from bamboo. Also, you can always discuss with your apartment community to have f.e. a piece of lawn/garden turned into a wild corner with native plants, flowers and some stacked stones and pieces of wood for various critters
@@eldariontelkontari wish I had a balcony, because then I would definitely take your ideas and implement them all! As for the community yard and a nature corner; I really wish they would be receptive to it, but it's actually already been brought up, and was voted down by a majority because it didn't suit their "aesthetic" (eye roll). I guess I could maybe hack those balcony flower planters to fit on a sloped roof window, and plant some native species of flowers, for very adventurous critters, if they make it up so far. Thanks for the brainstorm!:D
hence sparrows was removed fromt he list and lice were added instead. you can see the change in the poster shown around 8:49.
Currently dealing with a termite problem. 💔
Great stuff as always
Wow!! Did not expect this! Thanks!
I love when you talk about incorporating nature and biophilic design. Chicago is taking a leading role in city ecology, and I think it’s the only way forward for us. Would love to see a discussion about rebuilding the prairies of Illinois!
Terrestrial isopods, or woodlice, are not desert species. Isopods adapted to arid climates are rare, and in drier climates, they seek out humid microclimates such as under logs and debris. They are adapted to moist conditions, which is why they have modified gills in order to breathe. The species shown in the clip is Porcellio scaber, and their native range are forests and woodlands of western and central Europe, though they have spread across the globe now. Most isopods will actually die in dry conditions because of their gills. Low humidity can damage them, and then even if the isopod returns to a higher humidity condition, they will be unable to breathe efficiently. They don't pull the water out of the air; they require moist air to survive.
If you find isopods in your home, they'll generally be in moist conditions like in a basement or bathroom. If you find them, it's a sign you may have humidity and moisture problems that you need to take care of.
If you invite lizards into your house, they live under the fridge and eat all the cockroaches.
Don't lop "architects" into this... Just because you found one batshit architect who wants bugs in the home. No, just no. Raid is your friend...
There is no reason we should just say it’s inevitable to have pests in a structure. I own a lab where this can’t be tolerated. It’s not so hard to accomplish. But it has to be done at planning.
We’ve recently had a series of field mice sharing our house with us. One at a time, as far as we can tell, we’ve had one living on our ground floor. We can’t figure out how they’re getting in - we have all-new siding, windows and doors, so the house is quite sealed up. I’ve put out live traps and will catch one from time to time, but we decided we wouldn’t get all crazy trying to get rid of the mice. We’ve found no evidence of food packaging having been chewed open or even of nests, so we think the mice live on the pretzels and popcorn that fall under the sofa and live in a wall somewhere, maybe under the kitchen cabinets. I don’t mind having mice in the house as long as they’re not damaging anything. I worry about hantavirus, however, so I can’t let the mice stay inside permanently.
Spiders are generally left alone unless they’re black widows or brown recluses. I figure they’ll take care of a lot of other pests. Cockroaches are the only bugs that are never tolerated inside. We use boric acid tablets to control cockroaches, which seems to do the job. Otherwise, we don’t see many "pests" inside; just the non-harmful insects.
I am not so fond of insects in my home. However, this is why I generally don't throw spiders out. More spiders = less (flying) insects.
This guy probably never got stung or bitten lol
Like a good neighbor, wildlife is there.
Great video!