La Ruche De Montparnasse (the Paris Beehive), …a central building vaguely inspired by a large rustic beehive...These buildings housed artists’ studios: 80 in the three storeys of the central rotunda, plus an increasing number in the living quarters which were built around it…All artists received a warm welcome, irrespective of their aesthetic orientation, social background or country of origin. Empty studios could be occupied by the first person who asked for one: if one remained empty overnight Boucher would greet the next occupier the following morning without asking where he had come from or how. Soutine seems to have stayed there for seven years without any identity documents. A benevolent paternalism reigned in La Ruche in order to improve the education of its denizens and do everything possible to help them work.
Juan Antonio Ramirez, The Beehive Metaphor-From Gaudi to Le Corbusier Translated by Alexander R. Tulloch Reaktion Books, Chapter 3: Symbolist Beehive, Artistic Beehive pp. 70-72