Stage 1 Shelter Project

Stage 1  module Form Finding introduces the student to the ‘design project’ and how to interpret and analyse a brief. For the first part of this module, students take on the task of designing and creating a shelter out of limited materials which they are provided with.

IMG_0310

On Monday 20th October, students in their groups of 3 or 4, spent the day outside the Marlowe building putting up their shelters. This was only part of the task however, as they also had to spend the night in the shelter to see how their design would cope against the elements.

IMG_0343

KSA design lectures and tutors came together to find what they felt was the most elegant structure. MArch unit tutors Peter Ayres and Ed Holloway were each invited to choose their favourite shelter and it was put to public vote to decide the winner.

Peter Ayres said, ‘having inspected the shelters during the day, the judges were asked to select the structure which they found most ‘elegant’. After careful inspection of the shelters, and a heated discussion which eliminated many excellent and interesting designs, the contest came down to two finalists. Both of these combined clean economy of materials with careful attention to detail. The winning shelter, chosen by student vote, showed a high level of thought in its fabrication.  Design touches included little stilts to raise the cardboard from the wet earth. We congratulate all the participants, and hope they slept warm and dry…’

IMG_1673

The three winning students were Denis Herberg, Ingrid Loong and Ottavia Profumo. They were given University of Kent 50th anniversary onsies to keep them warm for the long night they had ahead of them!

IMG_1658

When asked about the project, winning student Ingrid said, ‘as a group, we were quick to decide on a design, however we learnt that throughout the construction process, we had to adapt and make slight changes to the design to make sure that it was completely water/ wind proof. Despite intial challenges, we were able to do that without losing the aesthetic of our design. We all worked well together to finish with a final product that matched our vision of what we had hoped to achieve’. 

IMG_1669

 

For more images, please visit our Facebook page.