New European Bauhaus Prizes 2023

Project category

Identify the award category for which this project is being submitted
Reconnecting with nature

Email user
andrea.paoletti@gmail.com

Basic information
Project title
Wonder Bee & Bee

Full Project Title
Wonder Bee&Bee enables intimate connection with nature in the worlds of beekeeping and bee therapy.

Please provide a short, catchy description of your project to be used in communication towards the public.
Wonder Bee&Beeis a beautiful wooden structure, surrounded by working beehives, in which you observe the behaviour of bees close-up, and experience their sounds and scents,in complete safety. Built and owned by the local community, Wonder Bee&Bee is the brainchild of Rocco Filomeno, a beekeeper from the small village Grottole in southern Italy. This immersive observatory is the first of its kind in the world - an inspirational experience for school groups, families, and nature-loving tourists.

What was the geographical scope of your project?
Local

Where was your project implemented?
Member State(s) and Western Balkans
Italy

If relevant, insert names of region(s)/municipality(ies) involved
Basilicata, Grottole

Does your project address mainly urban or rural issues?
It addresses urban-rural linkages

Does your project refer to a physical transformation of the built environment or other types of transformations (hard or soft investments)?
It refers to other types of transformations (soft investment)

Has your project benefited from EU programmes and/or funds?
No

Has your project won an EU prize with a monetary value awarded?
No

Is your project fully completed
Yes

Please indicate a date (mm/yy)
2022-04-23

On whose behalf are you submitting the application?
As a representative of an organisation
Please provide the contact details for the project promoter (the individual or representative of the organisation authorised to represent the project)
- Name of the organisation(s): Wonder Grottole srl Impresa Sociale
  Type of organisation: Non-profit organisation
  First name of representative: Andrea
  Last name of representative: Paoletti
  Gender: Male
  Nationality: Italy
  Function: President
  Address (country of permanent residence for individuals or address of the organisation)<br/>Street and number: Via Galilei 1
  Town: Matera
  Postal code: 75100
  Country: Italy
  Direct Tel: +39 328 902 5567
  E-mail: andrea.paoletti@gmail.com
  Website: https://www.wondergrottole.it/
Social Media accounts (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, etc.)
- URL: https://www.instagram.com/wondergrottole/
  Social media handle and associated hashtag(s): #wonderbee #wonderbeeandbee
- URL: https://www.facebook.com/WonderGrottole
  Social media handle and associated hashtag(s): #wonderbee #wonderbeeandbee
- URL: https://www.linkedin.com/company/wondergrottole/
  Social media handle and associated hashtag(s): #wonderbee #wonderbeeandbee
In case my project is selected as a finalist of the NEB Prizes 2023, I agree to share the name (individual and/or organisation’s), email address, website and social media accounts indicated above with other NEB Prizes finalists. I also agree to publish the name (individual and/or organisation’s), website and social media accounts indicated above next to the public description of my project in the channels of the European Commission.
Yes

How did you hear about the New European Bauhaus Prizes?
New European Bauhaus or European Commission websites

Description of the project
Please provide a summary of your project.
Wonder Bee&Beeis a beautiful wooden structure, surrounded by working beehives, in which you observe the behaviour of bees close-up, and experience their sounds and scents, in complete safety. Built and owned by the local community, Wonder Bee&Bee is the brainchild of Rocco Filomeno, a beekeeper from the small hill top village Grottole in southern Italy. This immersive observatory is the first of its kind in the world. - an inspirational experience for school groups, families, and nature-loving tourists. It is a wooden structure surrounded by hives intended for honey production, apitherapy and to study the behavior of bees by promoting the defense and discovery of these animals so precious for the survival of the entire ecosystem. It is also a place to raise awareness of the importance of biodiversity, ensure food security, promote sustainable agriculture, combat climate change, agroecosystem pollution and promote innovative methodologies for environmental monitoring. It’s a specific action of a broader and more stratified strategy to scale it to other places in Italy and Europe - in order to create a network of WOnder Bee & bee - a community of practices learning from and with the bees.

Please indicate the main themes of your project with 5 key words.
community apiary

Please indicate the main themes of your project with key words
bio-architecture

Please indicate the main themes of your project with key words
nature tourism

Please indicate the main themes of your project with key words
bee therapy

Please indicate the main themes of your project with key words
wellbeing

Please give information about the key objectives of your project in terms of sustainability and how these have been met. Please highlight how the project can be exemplary in this context.
Wonder Bee&Beewas conceived as a hybrid space of connection and exchange between man and nature. The idea was to combine of beekeeping and its beneficial properties with activities open to the community and tourists.
As a physical structure, Wonder Bee&Bee it was conceived from the start as a micro-architecture that would be built by had from natural and local materials,.
Today, Wonder Bee&Bee is a wooden structure surrounded by hives in which a million bees produce honey. This structure, and its support services, allow people to benefit from apitherapy, a wellness path made of scents and sounds, and to study the behaviour of bees.
As an observatory on the world of bees, Wonder Bee&Bee isan educational classroom open to schools and families. The apiary is also a place to raise awareness of the importance of biodiversity, ensure food security, promotesustainable agriculture, and demonstrate innovative methodologies for environmental monitoring.
Digital production and fruition model set reduces consumption (e.g., water and soil), reduces geographic distances (digital connection/local community between physical and digital residents), increases use of conscious consumption best practices.
Incentivize awareness on the issue of safeguarding heritage from the environmental point of view by including dedicated activities in the Wonder Bee&Bee (e.g., wellness center), giving space for the narration of all good practices of green transition exercised by and on the territory.

Please give information about the key objectives of your project in terms of aesthetics and quality of experience for people (through design, positive emotions and cultural benefits) and how these have been met. Please highlight how the project can be exemplary in this context.
Wonder Bee&Bee is the first integrated apiary in which you can sleep in the company of a million bees in complete safety.
The micro-architecture is surrounded by nine hives, each inhabited by a family of bees, connected to the room via small grates that allow guests to listen to the sounds and appreciate the unique aroma produced by the honey and resin. From inside the house also it is possible to see an observation honeycomb inside which the bees are naturally building their habitat.
This wooden mini-home, positioned inside an olive grove in Grottole, was selected to join Airbnb’s new “WOW!” category, created to collect unique places where you can stay overnight through the platform.
We used a codesign process and method. The wonder bee and bee is a process built on engagement of the community as a way to develop it and strengthen it too. People were encouraged to participate and they could share ideas, experience, skills and tools in the design of the apiary.

Please give information about the key objectives of your project in terms of inclusion (ranging from accessibility and affordability for all to inclusive governing systems, design for all principles or new societal models) and how these have been met. Please highlight how the project can be exemplary in this context.
The apiary design has followed design-for-all principles at every stage. It appeals to, and can accomodate, users with diverse abilities. The design accommodates a wide range of individual preferences and abilities.
The fact that all five senses are engaged makes it easy to understand in diverse ways.
The micro-structure itself is easy to dismantle and move when necessary.
The shape of the architecture allow people to choose whether to stay inside and enjoy sight, hearing, and smell - or remain outside in the beehives area and use the touch, smell, and taste in order to understand. The inner space is designed with an appropriate size and space for have two people sleeping or to 4 people to benefit from the apitherapy.
From a usability point of view the beekeeper can manage the apiary in full production of honey, propolis, pollen, without giving up any operation, simply by making a small change to the hives he owns.

Please explain the way citizens benefiting from or affected by the project and civil society have been involved in the project and what has been the impact of this involvement on the project
Self-construction work was led by Davide and Mariella Gentile with the help of, Lorenzo Lombardi, Luca Gabrieli, Andrea Paoletti, Rocco Pisilli, Nicola Viola and 15 other volunteers from the local community.
The brainchild of Rocco Filomeno, a beekeeper from Grottole, the apiary was conceived by designers Davide Tagliabue and Carlo Roccafiorita with Rocco’s support. Production of the design was developed by Davide Tagliabue. Wonder Bee&Bee required 3.5 cubic meters of fir and birch wood, 3,000 screws, took 35 days to build. Material costs were raised through a crowdfunding campaign supported by Funder 35.Thanks to more than 180 supporters, we reached our goal and raised €10,371 On April 9, 2022 we held a first celebratory party dedicated just to the community of supporters of the crowdfunding campaign.
The citizens get the benefit of the Wonder bee and bee by:
Using it for apitherapy;
Socio-economic benefits of having a new business in the area;
Relational benefits from the flow of new people gravitating to the Project;
Increased territorial welfare due to the presence of a new socio economic cultural tourist activity.

Please explain how different stakeholders at various levels (local, regional, national, European) were engaged in the design and implementation of the project. Please highlight what the added value of their engagement was.
A wide variety of stakeholders were engaged working together with a common imaginary and has supported Wonder Grottole in its journey.Rocco, the Grottole beekeeper, got a big role with his primary idea and was supported to develop it and engaged in all the process. The 2 designers were welcomed in the community and together with Rocco and other they explored possibilities, tools and competencies to design a new and unique apiary. The community got the opportunity to be engaged both as a welcoming people and as as designer and builder of the structure. Through building together a special place people build a stronger sense of identity and wellbeing, they feel themselves even more as a community and they share content. Wonder Bee and bee is a space to learn new contents, new skills and also to get new attitudes towards nature - all these elements made of it a place where people can share diverse strengths, abilities, interests and perspectives in order to work togehete better and support one another.
On October 25 2021 a crowdfunding campaign (a participatory system of “bottom-up funding”) was launched, with the aim of realizing the first prototype of the project, as a resource for the area but also as a test study for the realization of an integrated apiary, to be replicated elsewhere. Thanks to more than 180 supporters, we reached our goal and raised €10,371. This was a great opportunity to engage a wider community, supporters from all around the world. On April 9, 2022 we held a first celebratory party dedicated just to the community of supporters of the crowdfunding campaign. Kids and schools have been engaged in workshops, visits and exploration of the bees world. The municipality was involved in the creation of a bigger vision for Grottole as “bee town” and they accept to be part of the “città del miele” association. All citizens today, from kids to elderly can use the Wonder Bee & bee as a space for wellbeing and a social rural space.

Please explain which disciplines and/ or knowledge fields were reflected in the design and implementation of your project. Please explain how representatives of these different fields interacted with each other, and what the added value of this process was.
Two professional designers were involved in the design process. Their work has given priority to the practical needs and social values of bees.
Design considerations have included: the functioning and form of the the exterior structure; efficiency of the activities needing to happen inside; and the planning and coordination of diverse activities involved in the self-build. The research and planning of the apiary itselfinvolved expertise from beekeeping, entomology, environmental science, biology, chemistry, and botany.
The design of the microstructure involved the expertise of designers,
engineers, and carpenters.
Community engagement, fund raising and coordination of the self-build, drew on the social innovation and hosting skills of Wonder grottole. Their team includes professionals in marketing and communication, and experience design. Wonder Grottole’s strategic development, over nine years, has involved relationships with experts on the new livelihoods, and good work, that are emerging urban-rural markets. Their domain expertise has included positive-impact tourism, nature reconnection, outdoor experience, farm-shares, learning journeys, wellness retreats.

Please give information on the results, outcomes and impacts achieved by your project in relation to the category you apply for. This includes also benefits from the project for direct and indirect beneficiaries
Wonder Bee&Bee is a bio architecture made of wood with natural air circulation inside and built on stilts, no concrete was used. Bees are family-grown locally, treated well, not stressed. For ex. we do education and apitherapy from Mar to Oct in order to avoid cold months when bees need to rest. The site is home to a wide diversity of plants and flowers -so different kind of honey related to specific plants, can be tried out.Because the house is self built ,it can easily be disassembled and moved. When we need to change some parts we just replace it with new components.The presence of bees contributes to the regeneration natural ecosystems, +enhances biodiversity. Wonder B&B is an opportunity to reflect and reconnect to the land. It reconnects urban and rural. The building is accessible from an architectural point of view. The benefits of apitherapy are available both for visitors and for the local community. At least once a month, free entrance is available for local people. On the first 4 months we had more than 100 visitors and more than 50 local people of the community.The building is sustainable by income from nature tourism and school group visits. The structure is available for use on educational projects by children and families. People, visitors, schools can access to the space through digital booking and the support team create special events. The high quality of the experience is based on the scents of the beehive - good to enhance the entire respiratory system and on the bee sound + perception of the bees in safety. Educational workshops can be conducted inside the structure in completesafety. Thanks to the presence of this new building Grottole has been named an official “Honey village” network. As the first apiary in the world you can sleep in, Wonder Bee&Bee has already been featured many magazine and newspaper articles, and its founder has been interviewed on national tv channels.

Please provide documents showing the results, outcomes and impacts of your project
Web link
Web link
- https://www.wondergrottole.it/en/wonder-bee/
Please highlight the innovative character of the project, when compared to mainstream actions in the field of the project
Wonder Bee&Bee has the innovative idea to be is the first integrated apiary in the entire world in which you can sleep in the company of a million bees in complete safety. The construction has been designed and build in a collaborative way that is a new approached compared to the shape you can find now on the market. Plus Wonder Bee&Bee aims to be a Project that is green (sustainable), innovative (providing employment in CCIs - Cultural and Creative Enterprises), and digital (invests in technology to pursue environmental purposes).
Wonder Bee&Bee represents a contemporary Project, a model that proposes a world focused on people and their identity, in which European collaborative value for cultural heritage plays a key role.
Wonder Bee&Bee is an example of the importance of accepting the value of relationships and the need to direct the transition to new models of representation of creativity and knowledge, no longer coinciding with the vision generated by individualism, but integrated and enhanced by a plurality of viewpoints, geographically spread, unprecedented and original. Wonder Bee&Bee is the place where semantic relations between resources of different domains of environmental and cultural heritage, tangible and intangible, are manifested: narratives become the nodes of a network of relations to the construction of which everyone can contribute. The resulting processes will then have to be organized and modeled to be related to others (e.g., Wonder Grottole Intergrated Strategy), even in an automated way; domains can thus become the context of each other, mutually enriching the value of the Project.

Please describe the methodology or approach used in your project.
Wonder Bee&Bee is the result of a co-creation process combined with design thinking. This co-creative processes has involved stakeholders, local and international partners, volunteers, and the community. The codesign process and enabled engagement of the community as a way to develop it and strengthen it. People shared ideas, experience, skills and tools in the design of the apiary.The co-creation process refers to the methodological path of US origin of design thinking applied by creative industries. It leverages the heterogeneity and the ideational/creative abilities of the people involved to solve complex problems. In the Project, co-creation is associated with the involvement and active participation of the community in view of the strengthening of the concept of cultural inhabitant. They were involved in the concept design, in the crowdfunding campaign (everyone became ambassador of the project and of the community goal), then in the building of the apiary (in order to create a stronger feeling of identity, group and trust). It built a network of local and international stakeholders who find themselves involved in a shared and expressed will, rethinking the roles of each and, sometimes, reversing their direction. Today we have more than 300 people connected to the project thanks to the codesign process. Co-creation is a process of cultural production that generates shared value in a context and over time, which actively involves a community and redefines the roles and actions of all protagonists according to a common innovative goal.

Please describe which elements of your project could be replicated or transferred to other places, groups of beneficiaries and context. This may involve for example aspects of the methodology, technology, processes, products, learnings etc.
In line with the provisions of the New European Bauhaus (NEB), the Project provides perspectives to embrace the green transition by reinterpreting the relationship between cultural and natural heritage, supports social cohesion by engaging citizens, researchers and experts within heritage communities, and protects and transmits tangible cultural assets to the future.
There are about 19 million bee hives in the EU, managed by 650,000 beekeepers.
Existing support measures for apiculture include technical assistance, training, support for the purchase of technical equipment, support for young beekeepers, and measures to combat beehive invaders. Restocking of beehives, and assistance with managing the movement of beehives during the flowering season, accountfor more than 30% of the EU budget combined.
But economic diversification, and new livelihoods, are not supported by EU programmes. Wonder Bee&Bee can therefore be a testbed for new social, educational and ecological activities.
Apitourism is the low-hanging fruit - tourism activities linked to beekeeping. Apiroujtes in Slovenia, for example, has pioneered multi-day beekeeping trails.
Considering that each hive houses about 60,000 to 80,000 bees, guests can usuallywitness new bees emerging from their cells.
Honey tastings are another source of income for local economies. Honey from sunflower pollen, for example, have a different flavour profile than honey from the pollen of apple orchard blooms. Sales of raw and creamed honey - along with soaps, candles and bee pollen - can be another boost to local economies.

Please explain what kind of global challenges the project addresses by providing local solutions
In line with the provisions of the European Commission, which has recognized the green and digital transition as pillars of the community's socioeconomic evolution, Wonder Bee&Bee includes:
Green Transition
Wonder Bee&Bee includes investments, activities and design processes that are closely aligned with the green transition strategy articulated by the European Commission.
Green Web Foundation
Wonder Bee&Bee has applied to the Green Web Foundation for certification and will in due course display the appropriate sticker.
Fragile Workers and Smart Working
Fragile Workers Integration Module, which through smart working will be able to operate without operational differences from any other employee in the portal.
Zero emissions/zero consumption target 2030
Digital production and fruition model set reduces consumption (e.g., water and soil), reduces geographic distances (digital connection/local community between physical and digital residents), increases use of conscious consumption best practices.
Safeguarding heritage
Incentivize awareness on the issue of e from the environmental point of view by including dedicated activities in the Wonder Bee&Bee (e.g., wellness center), giving space for the narration of all good practices of green transition exercised by and on the territory.
Sustainable Development Agenda 2030:
Wonder Bee&Bee supports the following development Sustainable Goals (SDGs):
Goal/Goal 5: Quality Education.
Goal/Goal 8: Decent work and Economic Growth - decent work and economic growth
Goal/Goal 9: Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure - business, innovation, and infrastructure
Goal/Goal 10: Reduced Inequalities - reduced inequalities,
Goal/Objective 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities - sustainable cities and communities.
Goal/Objective 12: Responsible Consumption and Production - responsible production and consumption
Goal/Objective 13: Climate Action - climate action Goal/Objective 17: Partnerships - partnerships
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