Upon entering the industrial design programe as a sophomore there is about a month to develop, research, design and test a shelter that will be camped in overnight by the students. Each group of five or so students is given a theme to work within. The studio then explodes into a massive collection of materials and people working feverishly to have a place to sleep in the woods along the Camden waterfront. The topic given to my group was “found.” This being a theme up for interpretation we decided to find the materials to make our shelter. Lucky enough for us, we all have quite an interest in dumpster diving.
We gathered a collection of material that were most readily available to us and tested them with pressure, friction and lots of water.
We decided on a heat-sealed concoction of cardboard bike boxes, clear plastic bags, old window screens and shrink wrap for pallet shipping.
The design we built is a Buckminster Fuller inspired segmented dome that folds flat and can be set up with a minimum of 2 people but holds up to 5.
The metal fraiming for the window screens is used as spikes for stability of the floor and extra support for the structure on a windy night.We also created water-proof sleeves for the spikes our of old bike tubes. Our final product was something to be proud of and we were rewarded with a good nights sleep.
