Suncatcher Birdhouse

5 Week Project

Spring 2026

Research

To design a birdhouse, one must understand both their avian inhabitant and the consumer who will be buying the product. My target audience is people who have a small yard or porch and would like to host Red-Crowned Amazons. The needs of the birds were harder to pinpoint, and are detailed in the pictured research boards.

Sketch Ideations

While the idea vastly changed over the course of the project, the core concepts stayed the same. I wanted to create a birdhouse that could be used modularly, allowing the consumer to choose how many birds they have space for. Eventually, I landed on the final hexagonal and star shaped tessellation. I vacillated between sketching and model making, which can be seen in my many phases of drawings and cardboard mock-ups.

Models

Many models were made, both whole mock-ups and sections of the birdhouse to test the attachment mechanisms I had planned. The final model drew inspiration from past ideations.