B-and-BEE project stacks housing for music and theater festivals

B-and-BEE project stacks housing for music and theater festivals
all images courtesy of achilles design

with their social housing proposal called ‘B-and-BEE,’ barbara vanthorre and ron hermans won a creative competition in-c in antwerp. representing compaan and labeur respectively, the duo joined forces with the product, brand, and service designers at achilles design and business consultants of one small step. afterwards, the group applied for the belgian innovation scholarship CICI 2014, powered by flanders DC and innovation by science and technology. the concept of the honeycomb hotel was selected and began 12 months of development, prototyping, and testing to launch the first six cells at gentse feesten, a music and theater festival in ghent, belgium.

first prototypes for public testing at DOK gentse feesten 2014

‘B-and-BEE’ is developed for quick setup, where up to four floors may be stacked with an incredibly small 100m² footprint capable of housing over 50 visitors. it can be installed in the middle of the action, allowing occupants to lie comfortably and safely 3 meters above the ground while watching the stage with a cozy king-sized bed that can be easily transformed into a plush lounge seat.

large king size bed for comfort

a social space for interaction, exchange, and relaxation 

the colonies are spaces of social interaction, relaxation, comfort, safety and community. this is an example of culturally and environmentally responsible integrative design: developed as a product-service-system, produced and operated by social entrepreneurs, using durable and low eco-footprint materials, ensuring happy campers at events while creating jobs for the socially and economically challenged workforce in belgium. aside from festival sites and campgrounds it can also be imagined as emergency housing, shelter for the homeless and much more.

lowering the modules into place 

launch BBQ with the achilles design team

for the launch at DOK gentse feesten, the creators asked renowned urban artist smates to live paint on the textiles

product rendering at a music festival

achilles designers tim ruytjens and diana schneider at work

use case diversity board by design engineer, yassine abid

dwellings stacked four high in a diagonal line to host 50 people

designboom has received this project from our ‘DIY submissions‘ feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here.