Model Colony, Kipp Kobayashi, 2026

PROVIDED THE FOLLOWING SERVICES: Design and material and lighting consulting, Fabrication oversight

Model Colony, by artist Kipp Kobayashi, is an internally illuminated, beehive featuring 146 individual building facades based on those found in the downtown area of Salt Lake City, Utah. The buildings presented in the final artwork represent the modern and historic structures that come together to form a community. This suspended sculpture can be found in the DABC facility in Salt Lake City.

In the artist’s words, “Originally selected to represent the cooperative work that was necessary to create a thriving and industrious community in this desert environment, the beehive became the symbol of not only what was to become Salt Lake City but of the entire state of Utah. Modeled after coiled straw domes called skeps that were used in ancient times for bee keeping, its connotations have transitioned over time from traditional religious ideas of prosperity and wealth toward the more community-centric ideas that continue to be reflected today in the changing demographics and attitudes in the downtown area. Playing off this connection between animal and man-made habitats, I imagined hundreds of scale buildings referencing the many iterations of the existing and historical structures that once inhabited the district, organically clustering together to form a metaphorical hive.”

Select text and images courtesy of the artist.