COCOON (lightweight shelter)

“The aim is to develop a single person shelter which is simple to build up, lightweight and portable plus does not need any extensional products to fullfill the basic needs of surviving in the wild.”

Since the early years of human being, mankind used shelter to survive.Due to the complexity of this object, there is not a single main program of action. Nevertheless, the focus lays on the protection of the body, especially during the period of sleep in which every living is vulnerable. This protection is achieved by isolating the body from the outside. First of all, the isolation from weather circumstances, which means especially rain, wind and cold. Furthermore, protection from other forms of living in any sense. Without this protection, mankind is not able to rest and survive long term. To accommodate a pleasant sleeping situation, also a soft underground should be provided to support the body.
Having this program of action in mind, the aim was to create a shelter opportunity as elementary as achievable. Following the roots of yearning to move forward in the outdoors, we wanted to create a shelter which is portable and lightweight. the decision was made to go for an inflatable structure to archive these features. The transformation from limp to rigid by pumping air inside a closed volume allows providing a structure.
This volume functions on one hand as a skeleton to shape a space and on the other hand as a comfortable sleeping pad. when not inflated and folded it is transformed in a convenient and tiny object. In comparison to existing products on the current market, the main program of action stays the same. The idea to build a space to provide protection only differ a few. Nevertheless, the action itself, building up the artefact, is completely different to its competitors. Due to the simplicity of the restarted object, the construction by just pumping air in one volume comes in way handier then building up the complex and fragile, existing shelters. Moreover, a system was developed to provide an undetectable airflow which prevents the user from suffocate.As we focused on making the buildup as userfriendly as possible, the owner does not require any know-how. The filling-process is intuitive since there is only one simple action to fulfil. The caught air in an external pump sack gets than pumped into the main volume by rolling up the tool.
This action gets redone as often as needed. Since the actual space in the shelter is quite narrow, we decided to design a more natural accessible entrance/exit. Because sitting is not possible in the closed system we wanted to enable the user to at least stand or sit by entering or even fulfil these actions half covered.  The General shape of the object aims for a sustainable material use which also contributes to the actual weight. Due to that, the shelter is aligned with the human body. Considering internal space we figured out that a certain height is needed to give the user the possibility to move around plus a comfortable non-claustrophobic feeling. Also, the integrated sleeping pad is following the dimensions of the human body by supporting especially the points where most of the weight is located. The cocoon-like organic shape provides ergonomic wind resistance. Planned working with Dyneema textile which would be the perfect fit due to its lightweight and extremely strong features. To find the cocoon2.0 even in low-light/far situations reflection stripes were added to the outer shell. This stripes also highlight the double-shell system with its airflow benefits plus giving the aesthetical structures often found on insect cocoons. during our research on different cocoons and chrysalis, we discovered the temporary shelter of the Monarch butterfly. Inspired by this striking colour we decided to copy also because of the obvious link to nature in general.