Shelter 7: Modular Park Shelter, Classroom, Stage, Play Structure, & More

Shelter 7 is a modular multi-use park shelter, designed for the Make it Temporary Architecture Student Contest. The shelter consists of an elevated platform with an attached restroom and a storage room. Panels, in form form of safety railings, whiteboards, and activity panels, as well as a set of stairs and a playground slide, can be added and removed from the shelter via cam locks to transform it from a standard park shelter to a concert venue, outdoor classroom, stage, play area, and even a giant movie screen. The shelter was designed with the parks in my local community in mind, where temporary structures such as stages are often constructed during summer months for concerts, plays, and dance recitals. Building these structures is time consuming, and due to their temporary nature they are often flimsy. Shelter 7 is an event venue, but can also be enjoyed year round.

I used this project as an opportunity to dive into parametric design and the parametric design features in Revit. I created custom picnic tables and benches using Revit families, and a statement wall with concentric circles using Dynamo. To go along with this instructable I have written an instructable with a step by step guide on using Dynamo to create the statement wall and am working on writing a guide on how I modeled the tables. In this Instructable I will be going over the design & rendering of Shelter 7, and I have linked the Instructables for the Circle Wall below:

https://www.instructables.com/Parametric-Concentric-Circle-Statement-Curtain-Wal/

For this Project I Used:

1. Autodesk Revit
2. Dynamo for Revit

To learn how to get free access to Autodesk products for students and educators check out the Autodesk website here: https://www.autodesk.com/education/home#students

1. Enscape

I used the Enscape free trial for this project. Enscape has discounted liscences for students! More info can be found here: https://www.chaos.com/education/students

1. Computer
2. Mouse

As I began to lay out concepts for the shelter’s design I took inspiration from the parks in my city. I came up with 4 dominant traits Shelter 7 should possess:

Practical: If the Shelter is not practical, it is not usable. The modularity of the Shelter must be intuitive, and it should be designed predominantly of easily sourced materials.

Adaptable: The Shelter should be able to be used for a variety of events and should be able to meet the needs of a variety of users.

Safe: Safety is paramount in public parks. Steps should be taken to prevent trip and fall hazards and sharp edges.

Fun: Parks are a fun place where communities come together. The Shelter should encourage this.

Shelter 7's visual design is inspired by nature, with a variety of local woods featured and a statement wall mimicking the circular patterns found in wood slice art. I also wanted to bring pops of contrasting bright color to the design, and feature solar panels and native plants. Most importantly I wanted to create a design that would bring together community, and highlight practicality, adaptability, safety, and fun.

Above you can see my preliminary sketches of Shelter 7, showing multiple possible configurations, and 2 possible floor plans. I decided on an elevated rectangular structure with storage and bathrooms to one side, and the entrance to a ramp on the other.

The modular system for Shelter 7 consists of:

14 guardrail panels

3 9’ whiteboard panels

3 5’ whiteboard panels

1 Playground Activity Panel

2 Speakers

1 Projector

1 Projector Screen

1 Slide

1 Stair Set

The panels attach to the structural steel columns and a groove along the edge of Shelter 7 via a system of cam locks to ensure that they can be easily added and removed with a key. To prevent a trip hazard if the railings and panels are removed for an event, such as a concert, rubber floor transition strips can be set in the floor groove. The storage room is designed to accommodate the storage of the system's modular components, with designated space for each piece.

I modeled parametric picnic tables and benches for this project using custom Revit furniture families

Both these tables and their Revit family were designed with adaptability in mind. The Revit families have adjustable parameters for length, width, height, materiality, and number of legs, and have parameters for creating ADA accessible roll under tables.

In Shelter 7 separate tables and benches allow for the benches to be used as event seating, and for more arrangements to be created from the tables and benches. Additionally by using the combination of a 5’ and 3’ bench with an 8’ table, the smaller bench can be moved to accommodate a stroller, high chair, walker, wheelchair, ect.

The design of the table and bench legs features visually interesting curves that tie their design to the curves in the Shelter’s statement wall, and the table's bright green color provides exciting contrast.

I used Revit to draw floor, electrical, and roof plans for Shelter 7. The shelter has a large elevated platform with a storage closet and restroom to one side and a ramp behind it. Behind the ramp is a rain garden filled with native plants. In order to keep Shelter 7 accessible to all patrons 5’ turn radii were included throughout the design. The Shelter's ramp also exceeds ADA requirements for slope and landings. The shelter has a sloped roof equipped with solar panels to improve the sustainability of the design and provide electricity to the covered outlets in the shelter. The full sheets are attached at the bottom of the instructables.

I created custom curtain wall panels using Revit families and used Dynamo to randomize their size and materiality. I used bright colors during my prototyping in order to better see what was going on, creating what has since been lovingly dubbed the Lego wall. After confirming the randomization process worked with the Lego wall, I added wood textures from Architectures (https://architextures.org/) and the design started taking shape, as can be seen in the Revit Cloud Rendering! I made a step by step tutorial on how to create the concentric circle curtain wall here:

https://www.instructables.com/Parametric-Concentric-Circle-Statement-Curtain-Wal/

I used enscape to render the renderings of the base park shelter, adding people and other assets such as the playground slide from Enscape’s Asset Library.

It felt appropriate to create renderings that reflect the conceptual, malleable nature of Shelter 7 and its multiple uses to prompt those viewing the project to imagine all the things it could be.

To do this I saved multiple copies of Shelter 7 in Revit, reflecting some of the shelter's multiple uses: classroom, concert venue, movie theater, and of course, park shelter. I used generic models to create whiteboard panels and an activity panel. I moved the picnic tables and benches to fit the nature of the events, using the benches as additional crowd seating and the tables as merch tables in the concert renderings, for example. I added people to the renderings using Enscape’s Asset Library.

To give the renderings a colored pencil sketch look I used Enscape’s visual settings. Specifically I adjusted these settings:

Visual Settings → Main → Style → Mode → Sketch

Visual Settings → Main → Style → Outlines → Normal

Visual Settings → Main → Style → Extended Lines → 5%

Visual Settings → Main → Style → Pallet → Colored Pencil

Visual Settings → Main → Style → Transpenrt Glass ✓

Visual Settings → Main → Style → Hatched Shadows ✓

I used Enscape's video editor to create a video rendering showcasing the exterior and roof of Shelter 7.

Shelter 7 is not just an event venue or a picnic shelter, it is a place for community to come together! Thank you for reading!