Whether we're aware of it or not, we share our homes with a range of different insect species, so why not let in one of the most beneficial on purpose? That's the idea behind the Urban Beehive, a conceptual piece of technology being proposed by Philips. A large glass shell holding the hive would be mounted againt an indoor wall of your home, leading to an external flowerpot on the outside that would provide a passageway the bees could use to move back-and-forth with the outside world.

Philips explains that the glass shell would be made to filter incoming light so that it would only let in the orange wavelength of light that bees benefit from. Frames inside would give the structure needed for the bees to build their waxy cells and a smoke dispenser would make it easy for you to apply a dose in order to calm the bees down before opening the shell to work on it. 

The hope of making such a dream piece of technology real is to encourage the return of the urban bee and give cities the benefit of pollination while offering home owners an addition that would offer the benefit of cultivating your own honey and the fascination of observing a hive at work.

The Urban Beehive is just one of a series of proposed ideas in a project called the Microbrial Home that also includes a bio-loght, apothecary, filtered, larder, and squatting toilet amongst other devices designed to transform a house into an eco-system.