The Hive apartment by ITN Architects

World's first building inspired by hip hop

What happens when an urban culture-loving Melbourne architect builds his own apartment?

If you've ever wondered what kind of homes architects build for themselves you'll be interested in this new addition to the Melbourne, Australia streetscape. It's been created by Zvi Belling of ITN Architects in the city and, as you can see from the picture above, reflects his love of hip hop culture and graffiti art. 

It's called the Hive and was created in conjunction with Belling's neighbour, Prowla, an old school graffiti writer of the Rock Da City crew. He came up with the letter designs that make up the Hive's structure and overall form.

The building's precast concrete walls are inscribed with graffiti lettering and other hip hop iconography. Arrows, swooshes and drips are incorporated into the brick shell of the building. 

 

Inside the Hive appartment by ITN architects
Inside the Hive appartment by ITN architects

The word Hive is spelled out in 4-metre-high concrete letters. Inside, sliding doors allow light and air to fill and ventilate large rooms where a variety of door sizes and placement eschews the need for artificial temperature control, making the Hive green as well as ahem, 'fly'. 

Situated in an exclusive inner city residential suburb it rather stands out from the conservative architecture of the area. We can't help but think it's a sitting target for taggers though. Read more about cutting edge architecture in 20th Century World Architecture, available for pre-order now.