(Image: © Philips Design)
Urban beekeeping is taking off amongst those with a back garden or roof terrace, but why should high-rise apartment dwellers be left out? That's the thinking behind Philips' urban beehive design
, which lets you stick a swarm in your living room.The sleek hive comes in two pieces that attach through a hole in a window. The outside part provides an entry into the main hive and holds a flower pot for the bees to gather pollen, while the inside contains honeycomb frames ready for the bees to deposit their wax. An orange glass shell filters light, only letting through the wavelengths bees use for sight, and a pull cord at the base releases smoke to calm the bees before opening the hive to gather honey.
It is certainly an attractive design that could help boost declining bee numbers, but don't expect to see them adorning skyscraper windows any time soon - the hive is just a concept drawn up by Philips as part of its Microbial Home project, which looks at the possiblity of turning the home into a "domestic ecosystem". Indoor beehives also seem unlikely to get past health and safety checks - what happens if the bees get loose?