Sergiu PărgrasIndustrial designer
Menu

Product design · Prototyping

Umbrella Dome

Year
2018
Client
eematico
Role
Product Designer
Camp participants assembling the umbrella-inspired dome outdoors

Hosted during eematico summer camps, this project focused on hands-on education and civic engagement. I developed it as a collaborative community-building activity that brings people together to construct a shared functional space.

An umbrella-inspired shelter

The temporary structure takes its deployment mechanism from an umbrella and uses elastic structural principles. Participants fit the beams into a central hub, while two people pull tension cables to raise the entire frame into position.

I developed the project in Rhinoceros and Photoshop, balancing the structural logic with an accessible, collective building experience.

Participants fitting structural beams into the umbrella dome hub
The activity begins by fitting the structural beams into a central hub.
Camp participants assembling the dome frame together
Building the shelter turns a structural system into a shared community exercise.
Umbrella dome structure assembled outdoors at camp
The completed dome creates a temporary, functional space built through collective effort.
Umbrella dome construction detail
Elastic structural principles allow the frame to move from a low assembly position into a dome.
Participants raising the umbrella dome structure
Two people pull the tension cables to elevate the whole structure into position.
Digital structural study of the umbrella dome
Digital studies developed the relationship between the hub, beams, and tension system.
Umbrella dome activity in progress at summer camp
The construction process makes cooperation and structural understanding tangible.
Technical design drawing of the umbrella dome
The umbrella deployment mechanism informed the geometry and movement of the shelter.
Umbrella dome construction detail drawing
Connection details were designed to make the collective assembly clear and repeatable.
Up nextAll projects