2024 Award

DATECRETE BEE HOTEL

Artists: Sara Farha and Khaled Shalkha

Artists’ Statement

Datecrete Bee Hotel is a living sculpture designed to support local solitary bees and wasps, offering a habitat to meet the nesting needs of these essential pollinators. With specifications conceived as a product of a year-long research guided by biologist Nico Pantaleoni of SLA Studio, the piece is both an artwork and an ecological intervention. It is made entirely from Datecrete, utilising date seeds with no traces of concrete or resin.

Throughout our research, we aimed to have science and materiality guide our design choices. We were particularly motivated to find an alternative to concrete—a material that has significant environmental drawbacks due to its high carbon footprint and resource-intensive production. Through extensive experimentation and collaboration with local producers, we discovered the potential of date seeds—a common byproduct of the region—as a sustainable aggregate. Scientific literature showed us that date seeds are similar to wood in their constituency, that was one of the starting points that prompted our research. We pioneered a new class of eco-friendly material that maintains structural integrity without the need for cement or resin additives.

The Datecrete Bee Hotel exemplifies our commitment to using design as a tool for positive environmental impact. Solitary bees and wasps are crucial pollinators, yet their habitats are increasingly threatened by urban development.

Despite making up 90% of the bee population, solitary bees are often neglected and outshone by their social, honey-making counterparts.

By creating a bee hotel, we highlight the material’s suitability for ecological intervention. The project serves as both a practical solution and a symbolic gesture, showing that sustainable materials can be employed to support, nurture and protect natural systems.