Student competition first place winner: subur-bee-a – Brandon Bergem (University of Toronto; alumnus of U of M environmental design) and Megan Krahn (OCAD)
The University of Manitoba’s Faculty of Architecture would have found itself in a sticky situation for design ideas had it not been for a recent competition.
Teams from nine countries submitted their top designs from both an open and student competition to design new bee houses.
Competitors came from Colombia, Canada, USA, UK, Germany, Italy, Norway, Poland, and Brazil.
The houses had to handle 80-100 solitary nesting bees, while still being attractive from both and human and bee perspective.
The bee houses will be constructed by the faculty’s FABLab and and installed on May 17. Installation and monitoring will be handled by the University of Manitoba Parks Canada Campus Club in partnership with the university’s department of entomology.
The toughest challenge yet will be if any of the structures built will successfully nest the bees.
A full list of winners and renderings of the designs can be viewed at UManitoba.ca.
— Staff
