A parallel investigation using the Namib Darkiling Beetle as a biological model and incremental sheet metal forming as a fabrication method.

Designed as a shelter in the harsh Salt Flats of Utah, the Bug-Out Bug (B.O.B.) was born out of a design solution that aimed to hide and protect a garden that serves as a supplementary food source during a solar apocalypse. Its overall geometry was designed to maximize several desires for the project including hiding in plain sight, harvesting sunlight and collecting water from the humid air. To protect its precious contents, B.O.B. blends with its environment at multiple scales. From afar, the shelter blends with the desert mirage at the horizon due to its reflective finish and the way in which a 'break' in the geometry is placed at eye-level. As a system, the exterior formed metal shell protects and provides for the interior soft inflatable plant-growing pod.

Location:

Bonneville, Utah

Salt Flats

Date:

June, 2013

Team:

Ammar Kalo | Jake Newsum

Affiliations:

UMICH | FABLab

Video: 

Ammar Kalo

Publication:

ACADIA