Stretching along Denmark’s southwestern border is the truly unique coastline of the Wadden Sea. While too shallow for boats, and too deep for a high tide trek, many of the treasures of the Waden Sea remain sight unseen when the seabed floods. Leave it to a designer to figure out how to not only bring the tide to the people, but create an intimate experience between the environment and the observer. The winner of the Design It: Shelter Competition, David Eltang’s SeaShelter offers a new kind of seafaring experience, hatch included.
A popular wet hike destination, Wadden Sea not only features an exposed seabeds and tides of 1-3 meters, but a diversity of wildlife ranging from birds to seals. David Eltang’s geometric SeaShelter is placed directly on the seabed in the shallow water, where it offers both two-legged, multi-legged, and flippered passerbys the opportunity to take refuge and experience the seabed during shifting tides. With an interior workspace, tidal stair, and observation and resting tower, the flexible structure provides the opportunity to experience and connect to the environment in a dramatic and unique way.
The Seashelter is the winner the Design It: Shelter Competition kicked off by Google SketchUp and the Guggenheim this summer. The pair opened an invitation to amateur and professional designers around to world to submit a 3-D design for a shelter in any location in the world using Google SketchUp and Google Earth. Of the nearly 600 submissions arriving from 68 different countries David Eltang’s design was awarded the Juried Prize judged by a panel of architecture and design experts, alongside David Mare’s CBS-Cork Block Shelter which took home the People’s Prize receiving more than 64,875 votes out more that 100,000 submitted online.
+ Guggenheim Shelter Competition
