Got an email from Brooklyn based XAM, a former architecture student and 2009 graduate from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, who creates these awesome contemporary urban bird houses equipped with passive ventilation systems, solar panels, LED porch lights to attract insects and "green roofs". The houses pack flat, assemble like a 3-D puzzle and hang from city signage. They attract Wrens, Swallows, Warblers and many other small birds. We asked him what inspired him to create these awesome little feathered homes.

I am a former architecture student with a history in graffiti and street art. I like the idea of building functional objects to scale that can embody similar rules of that of architecture. I also like the idea of participation in art. The viewer participates on a level that questions morality. The units are illegally placed, but are serving a function that many benefit from. I don't bolt them to the signs I simply hang them and if you feel the units don't belong amongst the clutter of city signage, then take them down. I like to play with the idea that street art is ephemeral and it is up to society to decide the lifespan of the units. Also attached to the back of every unit is a QR code that when scanned lists a number of ways we benefit from birds in the urban environment. I don't promote people taking them down, but I would like them to question their reasoning and see if it goes beyond 'well it's illegal'.

CSD DWELLING UNIT 2.0 - Equipped with a "green roof" system that acts as insulation. The unit also has a birdhouse on one side and a food dispenser on the other. There is an adjoining wall that allows the residents to eat from inside the dwelling rather than flying to the other side to feed. This unit straddles city signs.

CSD = Constructive Street Design