“Insects, worms, and other small animals that carry out vital functions for life on earth have declined by 45 percent average over 35 years, threatening human, water quality and food supplies…”
-Steve Connor, “Vital invertebrates decline 45 percent, study finds,” independent.co.uk, July 2014
PROPOSAL
I have designed a model called the “Insect Motels” that offers refuge for insects like ladybugs, ants, solitary bees, and more. I designed this model not only for people to get to see different insects up close, but to increase the population of bugs and insects. To increase the population of the insects, I found out that I needed to build something that would protect them from the natural disasters of insects (ex.rain, wind, or snow). To do this, I decided to makes several rooms/logs, each for different insects.
RESEARCH
We have heard of the issue that insect populations are decreasing due to the weather and the fact that they have no shelter. Since the biggest purpose of this design was to protect the insects, I did research on this particular issue and how to solve this problem. From the research, I learned how important and beneficial insects can be. Insects play an important role in pollinating crops, pest control, decomposition and ensuring soil remains packed with nutrients, as well as water filtration. Fewer insects would have a huge impact on crop production, which would then affects the world’s food supply. The decrease in their population could also make a big impact on birds, which prey on pests that damage crops, and amphibians, which help keep water supplies free from algae. My design will help solve all of these problems. It will protect the insects and increase their population.
INITIAL SKETCHES AND PREPARATIONS
Overall, I had three types of sketches. For the first sketch, I decided to use a geometric shape like a hexagon. Then for the rooms, I divided the hexagon into 8 parts using triangles. Then I made another hexagon, smaller in size, on top of the larger one, and divided the smaller hexagon into 5 squares and 4 triangles. Unfortunately, I did not go for this sketch, because it was too simple, had barely rooms for large insects, was too tall and narrow with a short length, which would then result in falling by the wind. My second sketch was more beneficial and detailed than the first one. For this sketch, I focused more on its balance, weight, having more room for larger insects, and finally a roof that would protect the whole model from rain or snow. Instead of using a hexagon, I drew two identical heptagons (8 sides each), connected them together, and divided each into two rectangles and two trapezoids. I also added another shape on top of the two heptagons, a pentagon(5 sides), to hold the roof. After finishing drawing the frames of this model, I started rebuilding/redrawing the design on Google Sketch-up, and then I added the inside details for each room/logs on both the google sketch-up and the paper sketch.
My third sketch became my final model design. It looks just like my second drawing but without the pentagon part on the top of the two octagons. Also, I decided to transfer the 3 rooms in the pentagon (pierced logs, lacewings, and butterflies) to the plant section of the two octagons and one in the room next to the cardboard rolls (for solitary bees). I wanted my model to be very simple looking, but still very beneficial. Also, the timing of making this project was very short, and I thought making the pentagon would prevent me from paying more attention when making each piece.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Overall, I had so much fun building this model. It felt really good designing and building something that would be very beneficial to improve our nature, and to help the insect world, which does so much to help us.
MAINTENANCE
I would highly recommend putting this model somewhere where the back of the model touches a wall, or a flat surface that could cover the back. This would help prevent the wind from destroying the interior parts of the model.
This model is specifically designed to be placed on the ground, but you can nail it to the wall if you want it to be placed above the ground.