Set in Ligoniel, North Belfast, on a large plot of land directly on the edge of a vast valley with extraordinary views, the brief consisted of designing a Bee Keeping, Honey Making, Community Centre and Café.

As bees cannot fly in the rain, the notion of creating a space where they would be protected during inclement weather resulted in the concept of a glass-canopied garden. Further to this, it was hoped that the canopy would also produce a microclimate effect, therefore creating a warmer and consistent environment more suited to bees. In addition, the beehives were integrated into the supporting columns; clad in Belfast brick, with darkly stained wood hive detailing.

Another key concept that emerged was the idea of taking away any boundaries throughout the site, with the only boundaries being the perceived ones. Housing the different functions in their own buildings across the site also furthered this sense of free movement.

The buildings were designed with deep, heavy internal load bearing walls, while the external walls took on a thicker volume for proportion, where storage could also be housed. Due to the orientation and height of the site, it gets a lot of direct sunlight so perforated corten steel sheets over portions of large windows were used for shading.