At the beginning of our second year, first semester, we had the goal of designing a shelter along one of four trails. These included Buckskin Gulch, Concho Billie, Harding Icefield, and Sky Pond. I chose Sky Pond. This area is located in Colorado's desert area and deals with extremely warm temperatures during the day and cold temperatures at night. Pictured above is the shelter. This shelter was meant to collect the cool air that sinks to and moves along the ground and curve it up and around the interior walls of the concrete structure. The slit in the top blocks direct light and allows excess heat to rise out of the top. This design was meant to utilize the surrounding site and weather conditions to keep the structure cool during the day, and then use concrete as a thermal mass to release heat at night. This was a challenging project as it was also a resting stop for hikers and any furniture would block the air flow that need to be created. In response to this, I made use of seating areas that have slits to ensure the resting place could be used while it stays cool inside.