The book uses the Montreal Insectarium, a museum project by architects Kuehn Malvezzi and Pelletier de Fontenay along with landscape architects atelier le balto in 2022, as a site where architecture, landscape, and museology intersect with ecology and culture. Conceived as a polyphonic volume, it brings together architects, entomologists, artists, philosophers, and historians to explore how a museum devoted to insects can reframe human relationships with biodiversity. Through essays, conversations, and visual contributions, the publication traces the project’s evolution—from participatory programming and experimental material practices to the design of gardens, vitrines, and immersive environments. It situates the Insectarium within the longer history of natural history museums while addressing contemporary debates on ecological representation and climate awareness. At once a documentation of a built project and a conceptual inquiry, the book encourages new ways to think about nature, institutions, and the role of design in shaping relations between humans and non-humans.

Kuehn Malvezzi was founded by Simona Malvezzi, Wilfried Kuehn, and Johannes Kuehn in Berlin in 2001. Museums and exhibitions are the focus of their work as architects and curators. They realized the design for Documenta 11, the Montreal Insectarium, the Rieckhallen extension of the Hamburger Bahnhof in Berlin, the reorganization of the Belvedere in Vienna, the Julia Stoschek Collection in Düsseldorf, as well as the Moderne Galerie Saarbrücken and the Palais Populaire in Berlin. Additional projects include the interreligious House of One in Berlin, the Bâtiment d’Art Contemporain in Geneva, PHI Contemporary in Montreal, and Lot Petit – Saint-Vincent de Paul, a housing and mixed-use project in central Paris. They cocurated exhibitions like Carlo Mollino. Maniera Moderna at Haus der Kunst, Munich, and Hollein at MAK Vienna and Museum Abteiberg Mönchengladbach and have been teaching at Bauhaus Universität Weimar, École Nationale Supérieure d’Architecture Paris‑Est, Harvard University Graduate School of Design, Karlsruhe University of Arts and Design, Nuova Accademia di Belle Arti (Milan), and TU Wien.

Founded in 2010 by Hubert Pelletier and Yves de Fontenay, Pelletier de Fontenay is an architecture studio based in Montreal. The firm focuses on public projects, including museums, schools, cultural centers, and libraries. Projects include the Insectarium of Montreal, primary schools in Canada and the Czech Republic, and the Sanaaq Cultural Center in Montreal. Current projects include the PHI Contemporary Art Center in Montreal, the Marcel-Robidas Cultural Center in Longueuil, and the permanent exhibition design for the Holocaust Museum in Montreal. The studio is also engaged in projects at other scales, such as private residences, housing, pavilions, exhibitions, and urban developments. This diversity of programs allows for the exploration of a wide range of ideas, typologies, and constructive approaches. Both Hubert Pelletier and Yves de Fontenay maintain long-standing relationships with the schools of architecture at McGill University and Université de Montréal.