Brooklyn-based designers XLXS - Taka Sarui + Julia Molloy have just completed GrowShelter in Philadelphia, winner of the Schuylkill Environmental Education Center Sustainable Design/Build Competition.


Brooklyn-based designers XLXS - Taka Sarui + Julia Molloy have just completed GrowShelter in Philadelphia, winner of the Schuylkill Environmental Education Center Sustainable Design/Build Competition. Take the jump for images and info from the designers.


The Brooklyn design collaborative between Taka Sarui and Julia Molloy, XLXS, propose sustainable urban design through experimental architecture. As young architects with a deep rooted interest in environmental responsibility, we perceive sustainable design as an opportunity to merge our designed spatial boundaries with the changing natural environment. Experience working together on research projects on sustainable informal developments in Venezuela, South Africa, and Thailand has led to the design of our most recent project: GrowShelter, winner of the Schuylkill Environmental Education Center Sustainable Design/Build Competition. The shelter uses strategies to create space within an evolving and devolving living system, allowing the inhabitant to become more aware of the complexities and fluctuations in the natural environment.





The GrowShelter is a site specific installation designed as both a fun space for visitors to play and camp, and as a "feeder" for local birds and animals. With varied sized spherical spaces, it gives kids and adults a unique perspective the of local wildlife. The inhabitable spaces in the shelter are constructed of lime mortar with a reinforced framework. Lime mortar has been used for thousands of years for building masonry structures. It is made from limestone and carries an 80% smaller carbon foot print than the more commonly used Portland Cement. The lime mortar was mixed with water and sand and hand applied to the spherical frames to create the round sleeping spaces. The organic exterior is built from large quantities of soil retrieved from the excavation of the Fire Pond at the Schuylkill Environmental Education Center. The soil was mixed with water and lime mortar to form a sticky mud. A form was constructed out of salvaged wood and the was mud was packed up against the wooded walls. After the mud dried, the wood was taken away leaving the core rammed earth form. Berlap fabric, wood chips, and topsoil were added to the exterior walls and roof to create a moist, fertile, growing layer. 18 species of Philadelphia native plants and flowers along with birdseed ingredients, like peanuts, sunflower seeds, and corn, are planted in the growing layer of the shelter.







The life cycle of the shelter begins in early spring. The permanent shells will remain throughout the year, while the earth, during the spring and summer will attract and support a micro biome of local animals and birds at the site. During the fall and winter, the earth will slowly weather away, leaving the permanent shells bare in a pile of earth, ready to be re-packed and planted for the coming spring. The GrowShelter is an experiment and educational tool in our continuing research of pushing the limitations of sustainable architecture situated in a transitional and volatile environment. Currently, XLXS is pursuing further material research and strategies to develop more sustainable living conditions provided by emergency shelters.





Designers: XLXS - Taka Sarui + Julia Molloy
Location: Philadelphia, PA
Constructed Area: 100 sqft
Project year: 2008
Construction year: 2009