MAKESHIFT SHELTER PROCESS

From the time the ‘Makeshift Shelter’ project was assigned, I could tell that everyone involved was excited about the work that had to be done. For starters, following a semester where the studio work revolved largely around programming documents, sketching and rendering, this assignment was a breath of fresh air. That’s not to say that there is anything wrong with only programming and rendering. I definitely learned and grew a lot last semester, but I have always truly loved working in three dimensions and building things with my hands. I feel that this project was a nice exercise of designing and then moving straight into building.
Given that the task or activity that our shelter had to perform was to be a ‘Shelter for socializing,’ our team (the red team: Wes, Clarissa, Hailey and myself) began by throwing out and writing down descriptor words of what exactly this shelter must do in order to be a good structure for socializing. Comfortable, easy line of sight and easy accessibility from approaching people where among the list of qualities we knew the makeshift shelter must embody.
I can definitely say that describing what we wanted our structure to do was a lot easier than trying to figure out how exactly to take the list of descriptors and create a place made of no more than five materials and no more than two binding agents. My biggest challenge from a design standpoint was figuring out how to make a structure that not only fit within the small footprint that we were given in the Gatewood lobby, but would also be suitable for socializing. As our group discussed the challenges before us, we concluded that to ‘socialize’ there needs to be at least three people involved. Two people hanging out is more like a date, or more personal. Thus, at least three people must get together to really be socializing. And of course, as the saying goes when it comes to a party, the more the merrier! Our group chose to address this challenge by designing a structure that would be open in some way on all sides, leaving it approachable by any one who wanted to ‘socialize’ from any angle.
Once we identified clearly the needs and parameters surrounding the shelter, we each sketched out what we thought it should look like and how it might actually work. My role in this process was to suggest some materials that I knew would be easy to get our hands on, and would work structurally. I took some scrap corrugated cardboard and made a small test model of what our potential columns could be made of. By showing it to the rest of the group, I convinced everyone that this would be a viable option for the use of the main structural skeleton of our shelter. The system I was working of consisted simply of a large rectangle of cardboard that is scored twice and then rolled into a triangle. It is then wrapped with plastic wrap. The natural characteristic of the cardboard made it want to unroll, thus keeping a constant, tight pressure on the plastic wrap, holding the column together.
With a building system in place we moved into refining and making decisions on overall size based on our footprint limitations. From the interior we based decisions on how much space we had and needed, relative to the human scale. Taking inspiration from a gazebo I saw on the campus of Elon College, we loosely based our structure on the idea of an open shelter with seating that had two openings, and was approachable from all sides. I made a rough model in sketchup, and the rest of the group used that to create our physical scale model.
With the scale modeling phase complete, we began construction of the beast. Before beginning construction, we all collected massive amounts of corrugated cardboard, plastic wrap, fabric and twine. Hailey were working on the fabric walls while Clarissa and I made the columns. I definitely hit a point after making a few columns where I had a lot of doubts as to whether this thing would actually stand up. I knew that worrying about it wouldn’t help so I just kept building and decided that I would address the structural problems as they came. I can definitely say that working on scale models robs you of quite a bit of reality of the challenges faced when working at full scale.
Ultimately with a lot of trial and error, we completed the shelter almost exactly the way we intended to. We did decide to leave off a bench, but other than that I have to say the whole thing was a success. I enjoyed this project and feel that it broadened the way I think about how to use materials’ strengths together in simply ways for a positive result.