Bee Home. In close collaboration with SPACE10 and designer Tanita Klein, we created an open-source Bee Home that anyone can customise, visualise and download digitally, before manufacturing it physically at a local makerspace.
- Website
- Narrative
- Development
Solitary bees are essential to life on our planet; they form a vital part of our ecosystem and have been shaping our natural environment for millions of years. But now, because of human impact, their place in this world is threatened. SPACE10 wanted to design better homes for bees, and allow people to produce them locally. While the physical Bee Home was being designed by Tanita Klein, we developed a web-based platform and visual identity to match, committing ourselves to an extensive research process paired with a phase of rapid prototyping.
Inspired by the shape of bees and the rounded form of their nests and tunnels, we developed a logo mark and a custom typeface. From a product point of view, we made sure that anyone visiting the web-based platform could design and preview their Bee Home in just a few clicks. One of the most important technical tasks was making sure people could view the model of their customised Bee Home from all angles, both in 3D and augmented reality (AR). Since both models are based on personal input, we could not generate them in advance. We combined Grasshopper, Shapediver and THREE.js to allow anyone anywhere to freely play around with a predefined set of parameters and imagine what the Bee Home looks like in their own backyard.
- React
- Three.js
- Python
- Typescript
- Tanita Klein (physical product design)
- Irina Boersma (photography)
Gold, in the Visuelt Open Class Visual Identity and Digital Platform
“It is particularly interesting how the project combines different disciplines. A unique fusion of tech, design, sustainability, architecture, innovation and service development, which together contribute to creating a comprehensive solution that appears very implemented and authentic.”
— Visuelt Jury