Created in collaboration with Elijah Huge as a response to the Gimme Shelter design/build competition, sponsored by the Schuylkill Environmental Education Center, Bundalow is a modular system of bundled bamboo poles. Designed with a lifespan of one year, the proposal was inherently concerned with the entire building process, from harvest to reclamation.Bundalow is built of bamboo sourced from a grower 18 miles from the Schuylkill Center. A rapidly renewable and biodegradable product, the bamboo is cut and bundled to form structural surfaces using off-the-shelf tie-down straps as the primary connection device. The project proposes to use two surfaces constructed in this manner – one as a canopy, the other as a plinth for the sleeping platform – as the core components of the project. The canopy transitions from a surface which reflects the existing topographic conditions to an overhead cover for the sleeping platform. Bundalow interprets shelter as a careful modulation of two topographies: the ground and the tree canopy. The structure seeks to facilitate specific activities (sleeping, sitting, watching) without precluding a direct visual and experiential relationship with the site as a whole. Drawing attention to the ways in which canopy and ground are experienced, rather than by producing an architectural interior or a space that is distinct and divided from the ground beneath it or the canopy above it, Bundalow facilitates an immersive experience on the site.Bundalow was chosen as a finalist in the competition, but due to schedule restrictions was not built