엘레베이터 B는 도심 양봉을 위한 꿀벌 거주공간으로 버팔로에 위치한 오피스 빌딩의
파사드 재료를 이용하여 구축된다.-도시꿀벌이라... 먼가 유쾌하다.-
폐기된 사일로 주변, 공터에 위치한 설치물은 꿀벌 기둥? 통하여
유쾌하며 호기심어린 감정을 유발시키는 촉매제로
어반보이드에 새로운 활력을 불어 넣는 어반 소셜네트워크의
수단으로 제안된다. 22'의 높이와 스틸 스트럭쳐 그리고
펀칭된 스테인레스 스틸 판넬로 구성된다.
파라메트릭 디자인을 통하여 디자인된 스틸판넬의 펀칭패턴은
내부공간의 자연환기 및 자연채광을 위한 디자인 요소로
적절한 쉐이딩의 기능 또한 겸하도록 디자인 되며
설치물의 아이텐티를 정의한다.
그런데 그런데 과연 도심에서 꿀벌을 키울 수 있을까?
reviewed by SJ
Elevator B is an urban habitat for a colony of honeybees, which
originally occupied a boarded window in an abandoned office building in
Buffalo, NY. Although not created for a specific client organization per
se, the project has generated a great deal of public curiosity because
of the combination of the colony of honeybees, an interesting and until
very recently, a restricted-access site, and a well-designed object. The
site, Silo City, is a group of largely abandoned grain elevators and
silos on the Buffalo River. Elevator B is intended as a symbol of the
site's environmental and economic regeneration.
Location: Silo City in Buffalo NY
Firm Name: Hive City
Team: Courtney Creenan, Kyle Mastalinski, Daniel Nead, Lisa Stern, Scott Selin
Project Sponsors: University at Buffalo School of Architecture and Planning, Rigidized Metals Corporation
The 22' tall tower is a honeycombed steel structure designed and built utilizing standard steel angle and tube sections. It is sheathed in perforated stainless steel panels that were parametrically designed to protect the hive and it's visitors from the wind, and allow for both solar gain in the winter and shading in the summer. The bees are housed in a hexagonal cypress box with a laminated glass bottom through which the bees can be observed.
This "beecab" provides protection, warmth and separates entry access between bees and humans. Visitors are able to enter the tower, stand below the cypress beecab and look up to view the colony of bees behind glass, similar to an ant farm, as they build their hive. Beekeepers gain access to the hive by lowering it, allowing them to ensure the health and safety of the bees. This feature also caters to the school groups that visit the site, encouraging children to get a close up view.
Visitors to the site have ranged from school groups discussing the
natural ecosystems of Western New York and the Great Lakes, to adult
photography classes using Elevator B and the site as a subject. A nearby
nature preserve has also led several field trips to the project and is
in the process of developing a formal education program centered on the
bees and on colony collapse disorder, which threatens the species.
Interpretive signage about honeybees and the site is currently under
development and will be part of the larger redevelopment plan for Silo
City.
The questions asked by visitors range from the simple to the complex, but they would never have been asked in the first place if the visitor did not have the access to bees that is fostered by Elevator B. This is a clear demonstration that architecture can and does do more than serve aesthetic or structural purposes. In Elevator B's example, it sparks children to learn and adults to reconsider what they thought they knew. This includes the designers themselves, who have not only designed for the needs of their clients but have become inspired to become advocates for them as well.
from dezeen
High-rise living is no longer just for people. A team of architecture students from the University at Buffalo has recently constructed a skyscraper for a colony of bees
Erected amongst a desolate group of disused grain silos beside the Buffalo River, the seven-metre tower provides a new hive for honey bees that had formally formerly taken up residence in the boarded-up window of an old office block.
The tower is clad with a honeycomb of hexagonal steel panels. Triangular perforations speckle the surfaces, allowing light to filter gently inside.
The bees are housed in a hexagonal wooden box suspended near the top of the tower. The base of the box is glazed so visitors can enter the tower and look up into the hive.
The box is also attached to a system of pulleys so that beekeepers can bring it safely down to ground for maintenance tasks. University at Buffalo students Courtney Creenan, Kyle Mastalinski, Daniel Nead, Lisa Stern and Scott Selin named the project Elevator B, as a reference to this mechanism.
The tower represents the winning entry of the university's Hive City competition, which asked students to design a habitat for the bees. Other entries included a wooden cube and a geodesic dome.