Bug infested London hotels wins prestigious architectural prize
British Land and the City of London Corporation have unveiled the winners of ‘Beyond the Hive’, a unique architectural competition to design five star hotels for insects.
The competition, which was organised to celebrate 2010 as the International Year of Biodiversity and coincides with this year’s London Festival of Architecture, saw five shortlisted entries built across the City of London’s public gardens.
A two foot high hotel, which takes its design inspiration from children’s fable Hansel & Gretel and was constructed entirely from scavenged waste material, was crowned the ‘public’s favourite’ following an online vote.
Located at Cleary Garden, off Queen Victoria Street, EC4, the ‘Beevarian Antsel and Gretel Chalet’ was designed and constructed by the organisation ‘German Women in Property’. The hotel is based on a traditional Bavarian mountain chalet, and features reclaimed bricks to attract solitary bees, rotten logs for invertebrates, louvered boxes filled with bark for hibernating butterflies, a log drilled with holes for ladybirds and eaves filled with bamboo for lacewings. Set over three floors, all materials used were collected within the City.
A further award, chosen by an expert judging panel including Paul Finch, Chairman of CABE, the government’s advisor on architecture, urban design and public space, was presented to ‘The Insect Hotel’ at St Dunstan’s in the East, between Lower Thames Street and Great Tower Street, EC4.
Created by architectural firm Arup Associates, the façade of the hotel consists of a series of compartments based on a Voronoi pattern, which can be found in the natural world as in the rib structure of a dragonfly’s wing, and bears a close resemblance to honeycomb.
The ‘compartments’ created by the pattern provide the supporting armature for a variety of recycled waste materials and deadfall that are loosely inserted into the voids. In addition to catering for the needs of stag beetles, solitary bees, spiders, lacewings and ladybirds, the sides of the hotel are accessible for butterflies and moths and the top is suitable for absorbing rain water through planting
In addition to Paul Finch, the panel of celebrated industry experts charged with selecting their favourite design comprised Sarah Henshall, Brownfield Officer, Buglife; Adrian Penfold, Head of Planning & Environment, British Land; Graham Stirk, Director, Roger Stirk Harbour + Partners and Peter Wynne Rees, The City Planning Officer, City of London Corporation.
The remaining three shortlisted ‘hotels’ can be found at Bunhill Fields, City Road, EC1; West Smithfield, EC1; and Postman’s Park, between King Edward Street, Little Britain and Aldersgate Street, EC4.
Further details of each entry can be found below.
Scheme A: The Bumblebee City Nesters
This design is inspired by the City of London’s prestigious tower buildings, and uses a flexible system that allows it to be adapted to create anything from a two-storey wildlife B&B for smaller spaces, to a complete five star hotel for larger gardens.
At West Smithfield, the team will create a series of five towers, ranging in height from 900mm to 1200mm, made entirely from recycled materials, including recycled timber, recycled broom poles, and garden and building waste.
Two local schools in Wimbledon will help the team in creating the towers, which are designed with solitary bees and bumblebees in mind, but will also provide homes for an array of other insects and invertebrates.
Scheme B: Brookfield Bug Buddies
For its entry, Brookfield has pooled the resources of its consultant team for new City tower development, The Pinnacle, even undertaking a BREEAM assessment of its design.
Taking its inspiration from the City of London itself and the juxtaposition between the ancient past and the modern age, the hotel uses pipe work of different widths and lengths sourced from the Pinnacle project. These are fixed together in a sweeping line, rising up from a recycled wood planter base.
Reinforcement bars used to create the framework will both support the structure, and allow a plant climber, such as native traveller's joy (clematis vitalba), honeysuckle (lonicera periclymenum) or hop (humulus lupulus).
Hilson Moran Partnership was employed to assess the design’s environmental impacts, Arup Structures reviewed the structural design and DP9 advised on possible planning considerations. Brookfield Construction co-ordinated the team effort and will deliver the scheme, whilst children at local secondary school, Sir John Cass, will assist in procuring the materials and furnishings for the project.
Scheme C: Beevarian Antsel and Gretel Chalet
Based on the design of a typical Bavarian mountain chalet, the ‘Beevarian Antsel and Gretel Chalet’ was designed by “German Women in Property” to commemorate their recent excursion to London.
The design features reclaimed bricks to attract solitary bees, rotten logs for invertebrates, louvered boxes filled with bark for hibernating butterflies, a log drilled with holes for ladybirds and eaves filled with bamboo for lacewings.
Set over three floors, all materials used to construct the hotel will be collected from within the City.
Scheme D: The Insect Hotel
The façade of the hotel consists of a series of compartments based on a Voronoi pattern found in the natural world, which generates a series of voids varying in size at a depth of 500m.
A variety of recycled waste materials and deadfall are loosely inserted into these voids, whilst the sides of the hotel are accessible for butterflies and moths, and the top is suitable for absorbing rain water through planting.
Scheme E: InnVertebrate
Designed to reflect the diverse architecture of London, the ‘Inn’ is a stylish multi-story habitat with different-sized cavities to accommodate a wide variety of invertebrates.
The main structure will be built off-site, where a network of talented crafts people and designers will be involved in the sourcing and storing of materials, and construction, whilst the final phase - the filling-in of the cavities and planting – will be undertaken when in situ.
The inn will be constructed from recycled and reclaimed wood, bricks and off-cuts found in surrounding areas. Cavities will be filled with soil and stones collected from the garden, whilst seeds for planting wildflowers will be donated by the Bumblebee Conservation Trust.
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