Wolfgang Buttress: HIVE

Hear award-winning artist and creator of the HIVE at Kew, Wolfgang Buttress discuss his work with James Haldane, Design Editor for The Architectural Review.

A unique project that brings together art and science, the HIVE explores the life of a honey bee colony through an immersive multi-sensory experience.

Using vibration sensors to measure the activity of a real bee colony in the UK and feeding real-time signals to the LED light array in the spherical void of the hive, algorithms are used to convert the movements of the bee colony into lighting effects in the installation.

This intelligent use of technology, representing the real-time movements of bees, adds another dimension to the impressive hexagonal geometry of the hive and makes it a truly remarkable piece of art.

Tickets are free for members and £3 for non-members.

All proceeds from our cultural programme go to the Kibera Hamlets School in Nairobi, where Second Home has funded the construction of a new school building designed by our architects Selgas Cano.