THE PROPOSITION.
A 17-metre-high, 50-tonne lattice of spiralling hexagonal cells, enclosing a globe-shaped void and a glass platform that visitors can enter. Light and sound connect the experience to the activity of a living bee colony at Kew.
FROM BIOLOGICAL IDEA TO BUILDABLE SYSTEM.
SPC translated Wolfgang Buttress’s concept into a precisely coordinated structure of 32 layers. The repeated cellular geometry had to achieve the delicacy of a swarm while carrying visitors safely through an immersive public artwork.
169,300 aluminium components · 1,000 LED lights · 32 layers · 17 metres high · 50 tonnes · 4,500 CAD hours.
COMPLEXITY, REPEATED PRECISELY.
Design development · Engineering coordination · Digital modelling · Fabrication.
Thousands of individual parts were rationalised into a manufacturable system without losing the visual density of the original idea. Detailed CAD controlled the geometry, connections and assembly sequence across the full structure.
ALIVE AT KEW GARDENS.
Installed within a wildflower meadow at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, The Hive invites visitors onto a glass platform inside its central void.
A network of 1,000 LEDs responds to a neighbouring bee colony, turning live activity into a shifting field of light and sound. The completed work brings science, art and engineering together as a permanent public experience.
