Beehive Honeycomb Sculpture

After my honeycomb vase accolade last year, I was inspired to do something a bit bigger and more structured for my next bee collab but had no idea what.  Shortly after, I visited parliament with my kids and stayed at the old sexton cottage in Wellington.  It was there at night, the idea came to me.

I saw the structure crafted out of matchsticks in the foyer of the executive wing and thought I could replicate the basic structure from wire and then let the bees do the rest.

So I embarked on putting the "Beehive" in beehive. After a long building process of about 1 year and a few hurdles, we(the bees and I) declared the project a complete and utter success. Boy, was I proud of our build.

I chose pink wire, as I wanted to recognise and acknowledge all the amazing queen bees out there but also pay tribute to Queen Elisabeths passing.  After all she opened the NZ beehive with Prince Phillip in 1977.

The 'Beehive' is the common name for the Executive Wing of the New Zealand Parliament Buildings, because of the building's shape. This is where the Prime Minister and Cabinet Ministers have offices, and where the Cabinet meets.

Sir Basil’s idea was developed in consultation with the Government Architect Fergus Sheppard.  During the official presentation of the design in April 1964, Sir Basil adopted the popular term ‘the Beehive’ for the building; on other occasions he brandished a box of Bryant and May ‘Beehive’ matches to sell the concept.  Following completion of the plan in June 1965, Sir Basil stepped aside and responsibility for the remaining stages of the design was handed over to Sheppard.   

Construction began in late 1969 and in September 1979 ministers moved into their new offices.  With the completion of the annexe in 1981, the Beehive was finally finished after eleven years and a reported cost of $17 million.

Central government building concept design was made by British architect Basil Spence in 1964. Detailed and structural design was by the Ministy of works and it was built from 1969 to 1979-One of the four buildings that house the New Zealand Parliament. The Beehive is 72 metres tall. It has 10 floors above ground and four floors below. It is connected to Bowen House, where many members of Parliament and Ministers have offices, by an underground walkway that runs underneath Bowen Street.

The entrance foyer's core is decorated with marble floors, stainless steel mesh wall panels, and a translucent glass ceiling.

Ta Da...Mission completed. So proud, so very proud.