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The Plight of the Humble Bee
“The Plight of the Humble Bee” has inspired a temporary window installation at Oasis’ Regent Street Store in central London, designed by Hawkins\Brown in collaboration with artist Bob and Roberta Smith and apiarist James Hamill
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It was unveiled during the London Festival of Architecture 2010, a city-wide festival celebrating London’s urban past, present and future. The installation has been programmed as part of the Regent Street Windows initiative. The installation draws inspiration from the book “A world without bees”. “Honeybees are disappearing at an alarming rate… In America, one in three hives was left lifeless at the beginning of 2008… A third of what we eat, and much of what we wear, relies on pollination by honeybees.” (A world without bees’ by Alison Benjamin and Brian McCallum, published by Guardian Books).
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Bees play a vital role in the fashion industry in pollinating plants used for fabric. Their decline in numbers in the last 20 years poses a threat to the fashion industry, which currently contributes £200 m per annum to the UK economy. The humble bee provides the perfect metaphor for civic and social harmony, representing feudal hierarchy, absolute monarchy, republicanism, capitalist industry, and commerce as well as socialist aspirations; the hive being a place of co-operative and collaborative working and living much like our cities and towns.
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Living in London we often speak of making our own urban oasis, a place to escape to. The Oasis installation will cultivate fragrant lavender to create an oasis for the humble bee and in doing so create a slice of paradise for passersby to escape the hubbub and pollution of the city. At the centre of the installation nestled amongst a cluster of working hives lent by the apiarist James Hamill will be a bespoke 21st century ‘hive’ created especially for the window. The ‘Cor-bee Cube’ is a miniature replica of a new arts and civic building designed by Hawkins\Brown that is currently under construction in the East Midlands town of Corby. Bob and Roberta Smith’s Hollywood sign sculpture “Grow Lavender” gently illuminates the fragrant shrubs surrounding it with its strong call to action.
Oasis in the City
Architect: Hawkins\Brown
Photos: Paul Greenleaf
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