‘Wing Shelter’ is a roofing which interacts with rain. Whenever it starts to rain, an analog technique gets triggered causing the two upright blades come down. People walking by can take shelter in this temporary roofing. When it rains, the water gets collected in an underground bassin. The increasing force of gravity of the water will activate a counterweight mechanism by gears. The blades of the roofing will be pulled open. The more rain there is, the more the roof unfolds. One it’s opened, passer-by can take shelter from the rainfall. When it stops raining, the perforated bassin will slowly empty. This causes the counterweight to be dominant again and reverse the mechanism back to it’s original position. The blades will rotate back up, waiting for the next rain shower.
The project ‘Wing Shelter’ won the first price and the audience award for a design contest launched by Dutch waterboard ‘Waterschap Rijn en IJssel). The assigment was to create a gargoyle which uses water is a creative and useful way.