The Canopy Bus Shelter
The Bus Shelter Project is a First-Year Final presentation project culminating our learning from the entire year. Students were tasked with choosing some iconic chairs that they could transform and morph into a bus shelter. Everyone got the same site, Mackey Plaza @ Howard University, and could adjust it if their designed required them to. The parameters were confined to 75 sqft footprint with a certain height limit based off of your chair. The shelter or stop had to provide standing room, 3 seats, and wheel chair accessible accommodation. Safety parameters were left up to students.
I chose the Cervo chair which mimics a deer’s rib cage according to the designer. The fins of the chair represent as back support for the occupant and the chairs legs for stability.
From the beginning, I wanted to make sure the essence of the chair was not lost in the curvature and finned features. I began by flattening the chair into a kit of parts. From there, I curved, rotated, and copied it to both sides. I then created seating but alternating the curved fins. Although all sections provide CANOPY, giving the shelter its name. For my concept of its use, there are 6 seats, two wheel chair areas on the site, and space for standing, bikes, motorized devices, strollers, luggage, etc. This also helps considering the post-covid environment we live in where safety is a top priority. I designed with an environmental aspect in mind, again the canopy, to ensure that the shelter could be used during many seasons.
The chair is minimalistic to provide easy cleanliness with unobstructed views on 3 sides due to its curvature providing an extra safety aspect. I designed it with college students in mind aimed at a more sculpture-esc structure that’s visually jarring but pleasing.
The plan, section, elevations, axonometric, site plan, and diagram drawings are shown.
