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Biomimetic Structure for a Refugees Shelter based on Beehives

This project was an especially meaningful project as I worked on this with a Ukrainian refugee in Poland for two weeks. The idea of this was to create a safe space that people felt secure in and protected from the evil harsh reality. The original idea stemmed from migration, as refugees tread on dangerous journeys from one place to another just to achieve a better quality of life in a safer environment. The dome itself is inspired by a beehive, as it is a round structure and the home to bees where they feel most safe to produce honey. Bees are incredibly protective of their hive, and hence relates to how we want people to feel the safest when experiencing this dome. A warm ambient light,  limited number of 5 people is allowed inside at a time to create a therapeutic and less overwhelming environment.  The seating in the shape of droplets of honey are built to relate back to the hive structure.

Working with the refugee was humbling  as he brought amazing creative ideas that stemmed from his experience of having to evacuate his country. Listening to his anecdotes inspired me to make the design even better and allowed me to build a new skill set of making a 3D structure to try and communicate Ian’s idea and his vision of the safe space he was imagining. The collaborative process let both me and Ian learn from each other, and to use Art as a way of communicating and imaginaging.  From him I learnt about the art of compassion, appreciation and gratefulness that I later learnt to express through this project. This led to a much more successful and efficient outcome as we learnt from each other’s skill set.