Bee buildings

Revision as of 08:58, 20 May 2022

Introduction

Bees are winged insects which are closely related to wasps and ants. There are seven families of bees with over 20,000 different species of bee. They are important part of the global ecosystem and exist on every continent apart from one, they to benefit humans and other species because they are pollinators of nearly three quarters of the plants, that produce 90% of the world's food. So one third of the world's food production depends on bees. The numbers of bees has been in decline, with the highest loss being recorded between between 2006 and 2015, when roughly 25 percent fewer species spotted.

• Andrenidae Family - all mining bees; active in early spring, a very light sting with velvety patches of hair on their faces.
• Apidae Family - honey bees, stingless bees, bumble bees, carpenter bees, Diadasia bees, long-horned bees, orchid bees, and ground-nesting Anthophora bees.
• Colletidae Family - Two genera, the Colletidae often called plasterer bees because nest cavities lined with a waterproof secretion. The the genus Hylaeus are unique because the females carry pollen in a crop inside their bodies.
• Halictidae Family -brightly coloured metallic blue / green sweat bees are mining bees. The alkali bees are also part of this group.
• Megachilidae Family -all the bee genera that carry pollen on the underside of their abdomens. Familiar members are the mason bees, carder bees, and leafcutter bees.
• Mellittidae Family - mining bees from drier climates that often collect floral oils in addition to pollen and nectar.
• Stenotritidae Family -a small Australian mining bee family of exceptionally fast fliers.

Bees are known to live in hives and make honey however over 90% of bees do not actually live in hives or make any honey they are solitary bees and incredibly it is estimated that on average, only 2% of wild bee species are responsible for 80% of the pollination around the world. Solitary bees are crucial to the pollination success of several crops like cucurbits, blueberry, cranberry, tomatoes, eggplants, apples, plums, almonds, and all manner of lentils, among others. Social bees do build and live in hives with the social order and colony set up around the queen bee, with worker bees and drones

Bees in the built environment

Whilst the overall population of bees is in decline the numbers of bees recorded in urban areas is said to have increased, although the relative areas of land now consdered urban has also increased. Urban bee keeping has also been steadily on the increase across cities and towns but what other methods can bee adopted to support bee population in the built environment.

Bee built structures

Typical bee built hives follow the well know hexagonal order such as that of the Apis Melifera bee stocking honey true skyscraper type nests.

The Tetragonula carbonaria bee however, for example, create mazes to trick predators into being killed by a mixture of wax, mud and vegetable resin. These bees build spiral-shaped towers which are called brood combs, the structures link hundreds of individual egg chambers together into a continuous staircase of unborn baby bees.

Bee hive designs

Bee inspired buildings

From Gaudi to Mies van de rohe Architects have long been fascinated with bees. According to architectural historian Juan Antonio Ramirez architects as different as Antoni Gaudi (1852-1926) and Mies van der Rohe (1886-1969) drew inspiration from bees and beehives. Ramirez believes that Gaudi’s use of catenary arches in his organic, idiosyncratic designs –first represented in his Cooperativa Mataronesa factory– were directly inspired by the form of natural beehives. He supports this claim is with the Gaudi-designed graphics that accompany the project: a flag with a bee on it and a coat-of-arms representing workers as bees – a symbol for industriousness and cooperation. Gaudi was building a hive for humans.