half&half

ECOSHACK GREEN TENT design competition submission [finalist]

Exhibited at gardenLAb in Los Angeles September 8 – October 16, 2004.

A collaboration by Julius Aquino, Rey Laegan, Greco Lavilla, Charles Kwan.

The ‘soup of the day’s modular components offer a sustainable way of creating personalized tents of different arrangements as opposed to the tents sold on the market with only one restricting arrangement assembly.  With this in mind, the name of the tent, ‘soup of the day’, refers to the idea of having a versatile shelter that varies in organization which liberates the user(s) of choice and gives a great sense of social sustainability.  Also, it loosely defines the expression:  “whatever floats your boat”. The primary tent or an individual tent module can be paired up or zipped with another module on either side to create a two person tent to fit comfortably but can accommodate for an occupancy of four users.  Adding more tent modules to either ends gives another spatial dynamic, more sleeping room and research and storage area, in theory an infinity amount of modules can be added just like how a tree branch grows with little bud offshoots.  The entrances of all these arrangements are located on either side of the final grouping.  While on the Mojave Desert many variations of tent organizations can be experienced on a daily basis and this act of assembling greats an intimate community while allowing for privacy.  During the night flashlights or other light sources from the interiors render glowing lanterns along the emptiness of the Mojave creating an art installation-like atmosphere which passerby’s can enjoy.

The tent design has been generated to provide greater customization to the individuals’ preferences while in the Mojave Desert.  A ‘kit of parts’ or a ‘combo meal’ is the underlying concept into the packaging of the tent, individuals order the tent components from a ‘menu’ which come in varying structure and skin type sizes.  The ‘kit of parts’ is sold as a single ‘meal’ but the individual may want to combine their ‘kit’ with another person or even three others to form a much bigger tent that grows exponentially in respect to the spatial quality and allowing for varying tent arrangements.  The two main structures required for a single tent are made from formed plastic inflatable members while the skins or fabric are reflective water-resistant material which can be turned into the packaging or pouch to store the parts (inflated structure).  All these components are joined together with the use of zippers along the edges and are color-coded for easy installation.