Source: treehugger.com
Published: February 7, 2013
© AtelierD
In the creation and support of resilient ecosystems, the design of human structures and shelter certainly has a significant role to play. Designers can minimize impacts on the site or integrate wildlife habitat in their work. French firm AtelierD takes the latter approach with their K-abeilles Hotel for Bees, a hexagonally gridded pavilion that provides niches for wild bees to inhabit, while also integrating a covered seating area for humans brave enough to sit in the middle of all that apiarian action.
Created for last fall’s Muttersholtz Archi<20 Festival, the Hotel for Bees is a 20 square-meter wooden outdoor pavilion that features a honeycomb-shaped configuration. The openings can be filled with twigs, straw, reeds, bark and various foraged materials in order to attract wild pollinators into building their habitats within.
The pavilion’s design allows curious visitors to glimpse bee activity from the other side of the pavilion, where benches and storage is provided for people who want to sit and observe.
Though we’re not sure how the close presence of humans might affect bee behaviour in this case — for example, would that proximity mean bees (or humans) are scared off? — it’s still a thoughtful design that attempts to boost bee populations by replacing lost habitats. More over at Architizer and AtelierD.