Shelter Shift

Shelter Shift is a competition winning Bus Shelter design that joins a citywide initiative in Athens Georgia to increase awareness and improve visibility of public transit through artist designed bus shelters. The project maintains the boundaries and dimensions specified by the organizers but rethinks the common form of the bus- stop with a few simple alterations. As with the shifting vantage points and speeds we experience while riding a bus, the bus shelter is conceived as a dynamic visual object that subtly shifts its color and appearance with the change of the viewers’ position. This shift is the result of a lenticular arrangement of thin metal strips, painted alternating colors so that from one angle, the bus shelter appears to be one way, only to flip its appearance if viewed from the opposite side. The design’s rounded corners and arching cutouts further add to the shelter’s dynamism and intrigue. The rounded cutouts on the sides of the shelter balance the needs for enclosure with openness to allow for clear visibility from inside and out. Looking through the shelter from different angles, one sees a constantly changing frame and layering of light and color through to the surroundings.