The Species Hotels project asked first-year students to design and build structures for land and flying animals – everything from Tasmanian devils to quolls.

The hotels are now on display at the Tasmanian Academy Gallery at Inveresk and early next year, they will be installed on the banks of the Macquarie River at Ross.

Architecture and design lecturer Louise Wallis said the work showed how public art could contribute to habitat restoration.

“The design and making process incorporated over 100 people over an intensive six-week period including the input of artists, scientists and school children,” Ms Wallis said.

“These hotels represent what native wildlife need in order to live and thrive in what should be a rich and diverse area – they provide shelter, and access to food.”

The project is part of the Island Ark program, an environmental restoration program in the Midlands.

Greening Australia conservation director Sebastian Burgess said the work would allow wildlife to easier move between food and shelter.

“The species hotels, whilst providing pockets of interim habitat for native species while our restoration work establishes, will raise the profile of native animal habitat needs in an agricultural landscape,” Mr Burgess said.

The project is a collaboration between Greening Australia, UTAS, and the ARC Centre for Forest Value, with funding from the Ian Potter Foundation.