design your own bee house with IKEA's bee home open-source project

may 20, 2020 marks world bee day and to celebrate it, SPACE10 — IKEA’s external innovation hub — is launching bee home, their latest open-source design project in collaboration with bakken & bæck and designer tanita klein. bees are vital for life on planet earth; in fact a third of what we eat depends on these busy, buzzing insects and other pollinators. but due to human impact, these hard-working insects are in danger of going extinct as we have unwittingly destroyed their homes and natural habitats when building our own homes, cities and landscaped our gardens.

image by irina boersma | all images courtesy of SPACE10

bee home by SPACE10, in collaboration with bakken & bæck and tanita klein, is an open invitation for everyone to give bees the home they deserve and to make sure that planet earth thrives. 90% of all bees are solitary bees, and as the name suggests, they live alone and not in colonies. known to be great pollinators, this bee could provide by itself as much pollination as 120 honeybees. these bees don’t live in complex hives, instead, all they need is small holes to store pollen and lay eggs and protection from weather and moisture.

image by niklas adrian vindelev

the bee home open-source project has been created to make it easy for anyone anywhere to design a beautiful home for this vital species. the project explores how an open-source approach can improve the way we design, fabricate and distribute physical products. users can create their own bee home in just a few minutes. just select size, visual style and desired placement, like a rooftop, balcony or garden — or play around with the shuffle garden. once finished, you can download your personalized design files with instructions on how to build your bee home.

image by niklas adrian vindelev

once you have your design files, share them with a makerspace — spaces equipped with a variety of maker equipment including 3D printers, laser cutters, CNC machines, soldering irons, and even sewing machines — who will help you create your bee home. most types of dried hardwood can be used like oak, larch, cedar or mahogany. one assembled, place your new creation facing the morning sun. plant flowers in your local area to help the native bees thrive.

image by irina boersma