Gimme Shelter Sustainably Designed Structures in an Urban Woodland Opening Reception

Gimme Shelter will be a showcase of six semi-permanent, functional woodland shelters to enhance the experience of visitors to the Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education, a 350-acre nature preserve in the Roxborough neighborhood of Philadelphia. The project is meant to build awareness of the applied possibilities and meaning of sustainability and its impacton our lives and our connection to the natural world. The competition encouraged collaboration between artists, designers and architects, in order to demonstrate and promote new, unique, and inspiring approaches to sustainable design and building techniques. Construction of the six Finalist Shelters is underway, and visitors are welcome to observe their progress. The completed shelters will be unveiled at the Opening Reception on Saturday May 9, 2009. The reception will be from 2 – 5 pm, with a tour and talk by the design/build teams at 3 pm. This event is free and open to the public! The six shelters will remain open to the public through the Fall of 2010. The six shelters: Bambooze! by Rebecca Popowsky & Riggs Skepnek - Philadelphia, PA Bird/Seed Shelter by XLXS: Julia Molloy & Taka Sarui – Brooklyn, NY Firefly by Rashida Ng, AIA, Nami Yamamoto, Max Lent, Greg Charnock - Philadelphia, PA Rainsail by Alexa Bosse &Ari; Miller- Philadelphia, PA RainShelter by GCArchitects: Gabriela Sanz Rodriguez & Carlos Martinez Mediero- Madrid, Spain Woodland Canopy by FORM Design Collaborative – J. Scarpa, R. Curley, B.Nia, J. Siedlecki, & S. Jack - Philadelphia, PA The Schuylkill Center is in the Roxborough neighborhood of Philadelphia, and is accessible by SEPTA, bicycle, and Philly carshare. http://www.schuylkillcenter.org/aboutus/directions.html for directions.