В Гельфе открылся новый современный центр исследований пчеловодства

From a cramped bungalow to a new purpose-built facility, the buzz surrounding the recently opened honey bee research centre in Guelph, Ont., is palpable. A decade in the making, the 15,000-square-foot Luckevich Pinchin Honey Bee Research Centre (HBRC) at the University of Guelph officially opened this summer. The investment in the modern state-of-the-art building was long overdue for the centre, which is one of the oldest and most respected honey bee research, training and education institutes worldwide. “Researchers come here from around the world as our university oversees the most extensive collection of honey bee colonies for research found at any North American institution,” says John Cranfield, dean at the Ontario Agricultural College at the University of Guelph. The opening of the new centre comes at a critical time for Canadian honey bee populations, which are vital to pollinating many foods. According to Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, last year saw historically high levels of overwinter honey bee colony loss, while the national number of honey bee colonies grew to a record high of 854,653. Marked milestones in honeybee history The University of Guelph’s history in beekeeper training and research began in 1874, when the Ontario Agricultural College launched an apiculture program. The university built the program’s first dedicated building in 1920, and the beekeeping centre remained there until the 1960s before a new student centre was built on the property. In 1966, the beekeeping centre moved into a raised bungalow on Stone Road East. “Our former lab was a bedroom and our classroom a living room,” says Paul Kelly, manager of the university’s Honey Bee Research Centre. “Accessibility was a problem, especially when conducting our public education programs. We teach a lot of beekeeping courses, and we do a lot of demonstrations and tours, and the facility was not conducive for all of those functions. The HBRC’s new home, which staff have been working in since January, is located at 460 Stone Rd. E. in rural Guelph, Ont., near the university campus and next to the school’s Arboretum, a 400-acre site of gardens, walking trails and natural woodlands that’s open to the public. “The site was right under our noses about 200 metres down the road from our former location,” says Mr. Kelly. “At the official opening, somebody said to me, ‘This building feels like it’s always been here,’ which is what we were after.” Raising funds and awareness Once a decision was made to construct a new facility, rather than renovate the old bungalow, the university launched a fundraising campaign. The financing for the $17.1-million project almost exclusively came from private donors, many of whom had previously enrolled in the HBRC’s beekeeping courses. Lydia Luckevich, a philanthropist and University of Guelph alumna whose husband’s family owned an apple farm that relied on honey bees, was the campaign’s principal donor. Ms. Luckevich previously took a course at the HBRC and donated nearly half the total cost of the newly constructed $17-million facility. “She saw firsthand that teaching beekeeping out of a living room was not ideal,” Mr. Kelly says. “Ms. Luckevich envisioned a more public-facing building than we originally had in mind – and also one with a more inspiring design.” Prior to the construction of the new HBRC, the university used a crowdfunding campaign to help finance a YouTube channel that offers educational how-to beekeeping videos for beginner and expert apiarists – those who care for and manage bee colonies. Launched in 2016, there are now close to 80 of informative and instructive videos that have been translated into 14 languages and viewed nearly 30 million times. “If we had not started that outreach and education, I don’t think we would be in this new building now because the YouTube channel gave the HBRC so much exposure and added to our credibility,” Mr. Kelly says. Sustainable design and letting the land lead When conceptualizing the new facility, the HBRC envisioned something that was both inspiring and functional – an idea that Moriyama Teshima, the facility’s lead architect, understood well. After winning an international competition, the Toronto-based firm started on the building’s design, which emphasizes accessibility, flexibility and sustainability. “Our firm’s approach is to always start from the land,” says Olivia Keung, director of sustainability at Moriyama Teshima Architects and the HBRC’s project manager. “Since the site was previously a tree nursery, it had this amazing tree canopy … the final design was inspired by this canopy. We wanted the building to exist in this context – not take it over.” The property’s systems are all electric, meaning it does not rely on fossil fuels to heat or operate the building. “It made a lot of sense, given the remote site, to build less infrastructure since there is no natural gas line,” Ms. Keung adds. From innovative research to sweet sales Upon entering the HBRC, a central foyer connects the reception and retail shop, the former of which doubles as an events gathering area. Additionally, the foyer dually functions as an exhibit space, showcasing a curated collection of antique honey tins and historic beekeeping tools. Once inside, visitors can use an accessibility ramp or stairs to enter the centre’s the Discovery and Exhibit zones, where high ceilings create an open atmosphere that’s conducive for learning. The Discovery Zone classroom can seat between 65 to 100 people, depending on the setup. An outdoor deck adjacent to the classroom opens onto a demonstration apiary, where visitors observe bees in their natural habitat. The connecting indoor-outdoor environments are intended to support visitors’ connection to nature. A modern laboratory with honey bee production and processing areas is the most significant upgrade to the new HBRC. Previously, researchers worked out of a small converted bedroom. Now, they have a fully equipped lab with a safety shower, eyewash station, fume hood, fridge, freezer, incubators, microscopes and computers. “I often tell people that we run a farm because we are beekeepers and we’re into agriculture,” Mr. Kelly says. “But we’re also a research centre, an education centre and a retail business. It’s a unique mix for a university, but they all fit together, and the funds we raise through sales of honey and hive products, and through our courses and tours, all gets plowed back into our research and education programming.”