Philips, the multinational Dutch electronics giant, made a big splash at the recent Dutch Design Week with its innovative Microbial Home, a net-zero vision of household appliances and fixtures that all work together in an “integrated cyclical ecosystem.”
Aside from the Bio-digester — the design’s main hub — which converts solid kitchen and human waste (ewww) to methane gas that powers everything else, the most interesting element might be this super sleek Urban Beehive.
The honeydrop-shaped hive fits into a hole in a window, splitting the difference between inside and out, with a glass-covered pod containing the honecombs on the inside, and the tubular bee entranceway sticking out. Remove the glass cover and you can harvest fresh honey straight from the hive.
Hmmm. So what happens to the bees when you take the cover off to score some honey? Do they swarm your house? Also, we can’t help wondering about the beeswax that would inevitably cover the the entire glass vessel. Also, where’s the ventilation? We’re not beekeeping experts but there seems to be a few issues with functionality here. Regardless, it looks sweet, and we can’t be mad at Philips for trying to push sustainable design into the future.
(via Fast Company)