Bee Positive: Design for Awareness

This thesis aims to create a museum dedicated to awareness, research, and education, in an attempt to preserve the declining bee population. It focuses on the Native Bees of New Zealand in conjunction with introduced bees. The architectural design intention for the bee museum aims to encapsulate the life and biology of the bee through an informative experience of current issues, by delving into the current world in which bees exist, as well as an ephemeral architectural expression based on organic elements occurring in nature. The aim is to adhere to an emotional as well as a cognitive human response for the sake of forming an empathetic connection between the occupier and the architectural subject.  This has the potential to aid the bee population through a captivating and informative design, raising further awareness as to what the issue is and how it can potentially be resolved through public initiative. The promotion of bee conservation in New Zealand may have a prospective ecological impact on a national scale and may subsequently have the potential to work as an example for other countries in their approach to this global concern.