AWASH Design
Animal Welfare Artistic Studio Hosting
AWASH is The Zoological Lighting Institute's applied design and practice studio. It develops practical responses to animal welfare and wildlife conservation challenges by translating biological knowledge into usable practices, design guidance, and when appropriate, professional standards.
The work of AWASH grows from the scientific insights of ZLI Endowments and the environmental monitoring conducted through ZALA Animal Welfare Stations. Where those programs focus on understanding and assessment, AWASH focuses on improvement — identifying what should be changed, built, selected, or avoided in order to strengthen the biological capacities of animals and reduce unnecessary harm.
AWASH therefore serves as the place where science becomes practice.
Two Areas of Focus
AWASH operates across two complementary domains: animal husbandry and wildlife conservation. Each addresses a different context in which humans interact with animals, but both are guided by the same commitment to improving the conditions that allow animals to function according to their physiology and potential.
Animal Husbandry
The husbandry program focuses on animals under managed care. Its purpose is to improve the environments in which animals live within institutions such as zoos, aquariums, rehabilitation centers, research facilities, and agricultural systems.
AWASH develops practical guidance that institutions can use to improve animal care through better environmental design and management. This work is expressed primarily through the creation of husbandry manuals and applied standards sensitive to subjects broached by the ZLI Framework and welfare relevant conditions identified by ZALA monitoring.
These resources may include:
- environmental design guidance for animal facilities
- lighting and habitat management practices
- monitoring-informed care protocols
- facility standards grounded in biological function
- management recommendations based on measurable environmental conditions
The goal of this work is not simply to reduce discomfort, but to support the perceptual, physiological, and behavioral capacities that allow animals to live well within managed environments.
Wildlife Conservation
The conservation program addresses the design of human systems that affect free-living animals.
Many threats to wildlife arise not from deliberate harm but from everyday design decisions — buildings, lighting systems, materials, consumer products, and cultural practices that unintentionally interfere with animal perception, behavior, and viability.
AWASH works to reduce these conflicts by developing practical guidance across four applied design disciplines.
Architecture
Architecture shapes the environments in which humans and wildlife increasingly coexist. Buildings influence habitat structure, light conditions, and the ways animals perceive the built environment.
AWASH promotes architectural practices that reduce harmful interactions between buildings and wildlife while supporting healthier ecological relationships between cities and surrounding habitats.
Areas of focus are campaign based, but include:
- bird-safe building design
- artificial light pollution mitigation
- wildlife-sensitive exterior lighting systems
- façade materials and surface treatments affecting animal perception
- ecological integration in urban landscapes
Through collaboration with architects and planners, AWASH helps translate biological knowledge into design strategies that improve outcomes for both wildlife and human communities.
Fashion
Clothing and textile industries influence wildlife through material sourcing, chemical processes, and global supply chains.
AWASH explores how fashion can evolve toward practices that are more biologically informed and environmentally responsible. The program encourages designers to consider how material choices, dyes, fibers, and manufacturing processes affect animal welfare and ecosystem health.Additionally, a goal of AWASH fashion design is to substitute fashion that requires an uncritical use of artificial lighting ,with those that do not. Fashion drives architecture, in this sense.
Areas of exploration include:
- cruelty-free fashion
- wildlife-safe materials and fibers
- reduced-impact dyes and finishing treatments
- alternatives to harmful or unsustainable materials
- garments designed for ecological field work and conservation practice
Fashion can also serve as a powerful cultural medium for communicating conservation values and supporting animal welfare initiatives.
Product Design
Everyday products shape how humans interact with the natural world. Objects as ordinary as windows, lighting fixtures, and household materials can have significant consequences for wildlife.
AWASH collaborates with designers, manufacturers, and innovators to encourage product designs that reduce unintended harm to animals while supporting healthier ecological relationships. As with fashion, a goal of AWASH product design is to substitute uncritical use of artificial lighting with products that do not require it, or that can reduce its use considerably.
Examples of relevant product design areas include:
- bird-safe glass and façade treatments
- wildlife-sensitive lighting technologies
- materials designed to reduce ecological harm
- environmental monitoring devices and citizen science tools
- consumer products that support wildlife coexistence
By integrating biological understanding into product development, AWASH encourages design solutions that are both innovative and ecologically responsible.
Culinary Practice
Food production and culinary traditions influence ecosystems through agriculture, fisheries, and global supply chains. AWASH explores culinary practices that support animal welfare and biodiversity while respecting cultural traditions and regional food systems. It is also keen to utilize 'Dining in the Dark' events to raise awareness of the challenges posed by artificial lighting at night.
Areas of focus include:
- responsible ingredient sourcing
- reduced ecological impact in food production
- food traditions connected to sustainable ecosystems
- culinary education that strengthens awareness of biodiversity and animal welfare
Through collaboration with chefs, educators, and cultural institutions, AWASH highlights the role that culinary culture can play in supporting conservation and ecological stewardship.
Support AWASH Practical Solutions
AWASH exists to close the gap between scientific understanding and practical action.
By working across husbandry, architecture, fashion, product design, and culinary practice, AWASH encourages solutions that are scientifically informed, culturally meaningful, and practically achievable.
The result is a growing body of guidance, design strategies, and applied knowledge that helps institutions, designers, and communities improve the conditions under which animals live.
