Shelter Shift is a competition winning pair of bus shelters designed by the architecture practice Somewhere Studio led by Jessica Colangelo and Charles Sharpless. The shelter joins a citywide initiative in Athens, Georgia directed by the Athens Cultural Affairs Commission to increase awareness and improve visibility of public transit through artist and architect designed bus shelters. The project maintains the boundaries and dimensions specified by the organizers but rethinks the common form of the bus-stop with a few simple alterations.

As with the shifting vantage points and speeds we experience while riding a bus, the bus shelter is conceived as a dynamic visual object that subtly shifts its color and appearance with the change of the viewer’s position. This shift is the result of a lenticular arrangement of thin metal strips, painted in alternating colors so that from one angle, the bus shelter appears to be one way, only to flip its appearance if viewed from the opposite side.

The design’s rounded corners and arching cutouts further add to the shelter’s dynamism and intrigue. The rounded cutouts on the sides of the shelter balance the needs for enclosure with openness to allow for clear visibility from inside and out. Looking through the shelter from different angles, one sees a constantly changing frame and layering of light and color through to the surroundings.

Working with the Athens Cultural Affairs Commission, the two shelters’ color schemes both reflect important cultural symbols for the city and the state: one being the red, black and white of the University of Georgia Bulldogs and the other being painted red, orange and yellow to acknowledge the state nickname “The Peach State.” The two shelters work together to build community identity through unfamiliar forms.