This commission for three small shelters intends to evoke childhood feelings of curiosity and excitement through physical engagement. The shelters were designed and built for the H22 festival in Helsingborg, Sweden in Summer 2022, sponsored by IKEA. This installation encourages the user to notice and reflect on their surroundings in the forest by engaging the body, the eye and the mind.
Each shelter was designed, prototyped and assembled by two MIT students as part of a year-long project overseen by Lawrence Sass. Kaleidoscope shelter was co-designed by Isabel Waitz + Nina Huttemann.
Skills: CNC Fabrication, Laser Cutting, 3D Printing, Rendering
EXPERIENCE
Visitors may climb inside the Kaleidoscope Shelter from below or peer in from above to see one another and the surrounding trees reflected on the mirrored walls.
render (Rhino VRay)
Nature reflected
Climbing inside the kaleidoscope chamber
"I can see six of you!"
Unexpected asymmetry: One mirror cracked during installation
ASSEMBLY
All three shelters were fabricated from thick interlocking plywood components assembled with clamps, mallets and crowbars. The wood pieces were cut with a CNC, and no power tools were used to assemble on site.
Animation (Rhino, Bongo, Vray, Premiere)
Exploded rendering (Rhino Vray)
PROCESS
Nina Huttemann + Isabel Waitz assembling laser-cut 1/6 scale model
Nina Huttemann + Isabel Waitz assembling laser-cut 1/6 scale model
1/6 scale model
Early 3D printed prototype
Team: Stephanie Li, Seif Eses, Nicole Teichner, Isabel Waitz, Nina Huttemann, Myles Sampson, Erica Liu (not pictured).