Russell-Miller Office building and Elevator B Beehive
Silo City, Childs Street, Buffalo, NY
Russell-Miller Office building
The office building is located across the street (Childs Street) from American Elevator.
Original photo (without text) from Google Earth.
Far left: Russell-Miller Milling Company flour mill.
Center right: 2-story office building
Right: Marine "A" Elevator
In the spring of 1922, the Russell-Miller Milling Company purchased the complex. The company built this Art Deco 2-story office building on Childs Street across the street from the rest of its complex.
In 2012, owner Rick Smith found a bee hive in the then abandoned building.
2013 office building interior
[Rick Smith] came upon a massive bee colony lodged inside the boarded up window of one of the office buildings.
In order to see the transferal of the bee colony from the office building to another site at Silo City, it was decided to bring professors and students from the University at Buffalo School of Architecture and Planning's Ecological Practices Research Group together to participate in a competition.
The [winning] team came up with the concept of building a giant metal hive using plates fabricated at Rigidized Metals.
The design would allow for the bees to be kept inside a wood and glass compartment (referred to as a 'Bee Cab') that would travel up and down a 22' vertical structure. The crank driven 'Bee Cab' would give the beekeeper access to the colony so that he/she could tend to the bees as needed. The bee colony would also be locked securely, away from danger and the natural elements, while the individual bees would be allowed to pass through small cut-outs in oder to come and go as they please.
Positioning of the sun would be crucial (sun shading).
Another incredible feature actually allows viewers to walk inside the structure to view the bees when the "Bee Cab" is elevated to the middle or top. In essence, the project would become an outdoor learning lab.
Elevator B Beehive
22' tall new home for the hive. View northwest towards Buffalo River beyond the elevators.
View north east: Marine A grain elevator (Buffalo River behind it).
Giant metal hive using plates fabricated at Rigidized Metals.
Entrance into the hive, about 6' tall. About 7' above the ground is a glass barrier through which the hive is seen.
Steel supports
Steel plate with holes for the bees to enter leave the hive freely.
Looking up through the glass at the hive.
Looking up through the glass at the hive.
Rigidized Metals Corp.
Rigidized is located at 658 Ohio Street, on the property adjoining Silo City. Note the sculpture in front of the building.
"Energy Weave," designed by Larry Griffis III and placed at the site of the company's 2009 20,000 square foot expansion.
