BeeHome: Homes for solitary bees and other pollinators

Protecting pollinating insects is one of the most critical challenges of our time. It is estimated that without bees and other pollinators, life on Earth would only survive for a few years. That is why caring for our insect friends is so vital. With our support, anyone can help bees by setting up a house of their own design.

Our lives—and the Earth as a whole—would be completely different without bees. In fact, one-third of the food we eat depends on these busy, buzzing insects and other pollinators. However, due to the negative impact of certain human activities, bees are facing extinction. We can fight this by building bee homes!

Bee Home is a nesting site specifically designed for so-called solitary bees, which, as the name suggests, live alone. These fascinating insects are world-class pollinators; a single solitary bee can provide the same pollination service as 120 honeybees. Interestingly, solitary bees do not live in colonies or complex hives. They simply need small cavities to store pollen and lay eggs, as well as protection from moisture and harsh weather conditions.

The Bee Home project was developed by SPACE10—a research and design lab based in Copenhagen—and is supported by IKEA. SPACE10 created Bee Home in collaboration with the Oslo-based design studio Bakken & Bæck and designer Tanita Klein. The designs created by SPACE10 are released under an open-source license.

Participants in this project designed their own houses via the beehome.design platform, which were then fabricated by Marcin Pendel in his makerspace workshop. We provided participants with the expertise and guidance needed for proper placement and long-term maintenance. After receiving their finished houses, the new owners are asked to regularly send us photographs documenting the life of the house and its inhabitants.

WHERE: Lublin

WHEN: 2021

ADMISSION: Closed

Research and Design Lab

https://www.beehome.design