Project Objective

As illustrated in the previous chapters, both man and nature are confronted with different challenges that can be perceived as direct consequences of the growing separation of the anthroposphere and nature. Thus, the fundamental interest of the project developed here is to explore opportunities of integrating undomesticated nature in urban environments. By interweaving natural and new materials and processes the project tries to allude to a future in which humans and nature coexist and coevolve with technologies, following Sagan and Margulis’ vision of a technologically nurtured biosphere.

Being undomesticated and important, yet underestimated animals, wild bees are a suitable and harmless exemplary part of wild nature that this project tries to integrate in cities. The acute endangerment of many wild bee species emphasizes the significance of finding ways to secure the bee’s survival in increasingly urbanized environments and to raise awareness about their quandary. Therefore, this project aims to help the wild bee’s situation by providing urban nesting and nourishing opportunities.

Inviting wild beings into human environments that were formally separated from undomesticated species can provoke unexpected encounters and initiate thought. Besides the need to re-evaluate essential traits of our modern habitats, urban wild bee interventions can act as a kind of Biophilic Urban Acupuncture and offer civic citizens the opportunity to reconnect and involve with nature in new ways, possibly leading to improved well-being. To develop concepts for urban wild bee nesting sites, the specific requirements of those kinds of bees that could become urban dwellers must be clarified. Since the project aims to interweave the technosphere and the biological world, design strategies need to be found that combine practical aspects of product design with natural form-finding processes and materials to develop functional structures. To do so, material research and experiments are carried out and nature-inspired design methods investigated.

The outcome of the project is a concept for an urban wild bee nesting intervention that is based on the previous research. Other than common nesting aids, this intervention includes solutions for the bees’ nourishing needs, integrates and interacts with the city’s environment and is more of an inciting, pioneering kind. The noncompliant character of the proposed artifacts shall furthermore increase involvement in the topic and invite to partake for the joy of non-violent resistance and exploitation of regulations and order.

Experiments

The aim of this thesis being to create urban wild bee nesting interventions that could function as Biophilic Urban Acupuncture, the focus in the design process was on the attempt to fuse natural and technological aspects and methods. After clarifying the wild bee’s specific needs, suitable fabrication methods and form finding processes had to be researched. To gain a better understanding, the research on these three fields was accompanied by three practical experiments each.