“Refugio”独居蜜蜂庇护所
Refugio shelters aim to make solitary bees feel at home in cities

由专筑网王帅，李韧编译

墨西哥MaliArts创意工作室设计了蜂箱三件套，旨在帮助那些居住在建成区的独居蜜蜂，从而将自然引入到城市环境之中。

该项目名为“Refugio”，它包括三种装置，为不同种类的独居蜜蜂提供了基本的栖身之所、食物和水，该装置拉近人类中心城市和自然的距离。

蜂箱既是蜜蜂休息的地方，也是筑巢的地方。蜂箱上的饮水装置为蜜蜂提供了安全的饮水空间，同时还有包含食物的喂食器，这保障了蜜蜂的生存。

Mexico-based creative studio MaliArts has designed a series of three structures for solitary bees living in built-up areas to help welcome nature into urban environments.
The project, called Refugio, is conceived as a group of three objects that provide the basic needs of shelter, food and water to different species of solitary bees, in a bid to generate a closer relationship between human-centric cities and nature.
A shelter is designed to function as both a resting place and a nesting place, while a waterer provides a safe space to drink, and a feeder contains food, for areas without enough flowers.


Refugio项目之中的单独蜜蜂庇护所／The Refugio project includes a shelter for solitary bees

独居的蜜蜂即不生活在蜂群里，也不生活在蜂箱里。它们不需要蜂王，因此不需要生产蜂蜜或蜂蜡。多数独居蜜蜂都不好斗，很多蜜蜂甚至连刺都没有。

独居蜜蜂的大部分时间都在收集花粉，它们或许是自然界中的高效授粉者，例如有一种名为红梅森蜂的独居蜜蜂，其授粉效率相当于120只工蜂。

Solitary bees do not live in colonies or in a hive, do not have a queen and therefore do not produce honey or wax. Most are not aggressive and many don't even have a sting.
Dedicating most of their time to collecting pollen, solitary bees are potentially the most efficient pollinators in nature, with one particular species of solitary bee, the red mason, being equivalent to 120 worker honeybees in the pollination it provides.


MaliArts事务所设计的喂食器／One of the structures in MaliArts' collection is a feeder

Gabriel Calvillo是MaliArts事务所的设计师，他解释说：“当我们谈论蜜蜂时，我们通常会想到欧洲的蜜蜂（意蜂）。而在现实中，大约90%的蜜蜂物种都是独居蜜蜂。”

“事实上，独居蜜蜂不会为人类生产任何‘消费品’，因此，它们并没有受到太大的重视。但最近的研究表明，它们可能是自然界中最有效的授粉者。”

为了拯救这些濒临灭绝的昆虫，在结构设计时，设计师都参考了自然和城市空间中独居蜜蜂的居所和筑巢地点的类型，以及位于许多农场之中的“昆虫旅馆”。

该款庇护所由多个模块组成，由未润饰的松木和柚木制成，上面覆盖着天然的油，而屋顶则由陶瓷制成。

喂食与饮水装置的主要材料是陶瓷，内面有红色粘土搪瓷。喂食装置的盖子和底座都用柚木制成，三个装置的支架都为钢材。

"When we talk about bees we usually imagine the European honey bee (Apis mellifera) when in reality around 90 per cent of the bee species are considered solitary," explained Gabriel Calvillo from the Mexico City-based studio.
"The fact that solitary bees do not generate any 'consumable product' for humans has meant that they are not given much attention, but recent studies point to the fact that they are possibly the most efficient pollinators in nature."
In a bid to attract the endangered insects, the design of each structure was based on the types of refuge and nesting sites that solitary bees naturally seek out both in nature and in urban spaces, as well as the "insect hotels" found on many farms.
The shelter consists of multiple modules made from unfinished pine and teak wood covered with natural oil, while the roof is ceramic.
The main structures of the waterer and the feeder are ceramic with red clay enamel on their internal faces. Both the lid and the base of the feeder are made of teak, and the tall legs of all three objects are made of steel.


饮水装置／The third structure in the series is a waterer

这三个装置都配有一份说明手册，旨在帮助路人了解如何为独居蜜蜂建立庇护所。

Calvillo说：“人们可以在农场、花园和公园种植花圃，然后在这些地方安装庇护所、水和喂食装置。这是一种增加独居蜜蜂数量的有效方法。”

Each structure is complemented by a cultivation manual that passersby can read to find out how they can create their own sanctuaries for solitary bees.
"One way to increase the population of solitary bees is by creating flower gardens in farms, gardens and parks. These gardens or sanctuaries can be complemented with the use of shelters, waterers and feeders," said Calvillo.


MaliArts事务所设计的三件套为蜜蜂提供食物、水和庇护空间／MaliArts designed the objects to provide food, water and shelter for bees

该工作室表示：“当半数以上的人口生活在城市时，我们似乎挣扎在没有自然的环境之中。”

“人们鄙视混凝土裂缝间生长的植物，砍倒大树来建造停车场，曾经的公园也被建成购物中心。”

“我们的生活距离自然愈发遥远，尤其是昆虫，世界各地每天所使用的杀虫剂、驱虫剂和诱杀装置数不胜数，我们忘记了昆虫在生态平衡之中起着不可或缺的作用。”

设计师在读到《保育生物学》（Conservation Biology）一书中的“城市是传粉昆虫的庇护所”一文后，启发了他设计这套装置的灵感。文章阐述了许多传粉昆虫在城市中所找到的栖身之所，以及在花园、公园和城市农场中找到授粉的花。

"In times when more than half of the population lives in cities, we seem to fight to exclude nature from our lives," said the studio.
"The plants that grow between cracks of concrete are aesthetically despised, trees are cut down to build parking lots and shopping centres are built where parks once stood."
"Possibly, insects are our main objective when we talk about excluding nature from our lives. Insecticides, repellents and traps are used massively around the world every day," it added. "We forget that insects play an indispensable role in the environmental balance."
The designers were inspired to create the shelters after reading an article published by Conservation Biology titled The City as a Refuge for Pollinating Insects, which discussed how lots of pollinating insects have found refuge in cities, where they can find many flowers in gardens, parks and urban farms.


这套装置由陶瓷、松木和柚木制成／The objects are constructed from ceramics, pine and teak

Calvillo告诉Dezeen的记者：“许多农村的植物较为单一，且使用很多杀虫剂。而城市与之不同，我认为思考城市对于生物多样性的保护作用是一件非常有趣的事情。”

MaliArts工作室不是第一个致力于拯救濒危昆虫的设计工作室。Saatchi & Saatchi事务所华沙分支和蜜蜂慈善组织City Bees曾经联合设计了一种富含葡萄糖的纸，它名为“蜜蜂能量饮料”，旨在防止蜜蜂在寻找花粉时因精疲力竭而死亡。

摄影：Sergio López

"Unlike many rural places where monocultures and the use of pesticides are the norm, I think it is very interesting to consider how cities can also play a role in the conservation of biodiversity," Calvillo told Dezeen.
MaliArts are not the first design studio to gear their efforts towards saving endangered insects. The Warsaw branch of Saatchi & Saatchi and bee charity City Bees came together to create a glucose-rich paper touted as an "energy drink for bees" to help prevent them dying of exhaustion as they search for flowers.
Photography is by Sergio López.