On the other hand, the metal that forms the enclosure and allows a certain permeability between the building and its context. This is how the building results in a small pavilion for bees and humans.
Description of project by Palafito Arquitectura
In July 2020, we finished the construction of the urban apiary of the Universidad del Rosario in the geographic center of Bogota; a small building that would house more than half a million bees.
The design was based on squares of different sizes that complement each other in plan and section, marking the corners of an efficient structure.
The building is resolved with two materials: on the one hand, guadua forms the structure, like a forest of columns that do not always touch the floor, but give order to the building and accentuate its powerful verticality. On the other hand, the metal forms the enclosure and allows a certain permeability between the building and its context, through the thresholds, circulations of different dimensions, and interstices that the columns create.
For this unusual commission, we responded to the concerns of researchers from the university's Faculty of Sciences, as the program required two very different spaces. The second floor is where the workspace is located: a translucent metal box that prevents bees from entering and forms a solid base in the guadua forest. This contrasts with the upper level, reserved for the hives: a light, equally metallic, and translucent enclosure that opens to the sky and invites the bees to leave in search of more urban gardens.
In this way, the building is for bees and humans alike, with the paradox that the bees are inside - but in a space that opens to the sky - and we humans are outside - but protected among a slender, sculptural forest.
