Lite Shelter Planning Studio

About Lite Shelter Planning Studio

Lite Shelter Planning Studio (LSPS) is a US-based creative design studio working across architecture, interiors and product design. The practice operates under the tagline "when buildings come to life", and also works under the Popular Architecture Studio (POP) name on a number of its projects.

The studio's portfolio is unusually broad for its size, spanning multi-storey buildings, one-off interior interventions, community pavilions, international competition entries and small manufactured objects.

Building Typologies

• Multifamily residential - several multifamily schemes including Charlestown Multifamily
• Hospitality - hotel projects
• Office - workplace buildings
• Retail - shops and commercial units
• Mixed-use - including facade reworking
• Civic and cultural - library projects
• Single-family residential - including Four Homes and Gulf Stream

Notable Projects

Lets Build My School - Senegal (Around the Tree)

A school proposal for the Marsassoum area of Senegal, designed so it can be built by unskilled labourers and serve as an example of future building techniques locally. The construction sequence uses flat concrete foundations with voids left for bamboo column footings, sheet metal butterfly roofs on bamboo rafters assembled at ground level and then lifted into place, rammed earth walls built by students and staff, clay brick walls with a laterite coating, and ferro-concrete tanks and sills cast using the same reusable timber.

The proposal uses only 60% of the available budget, leaving the remainder for furniture, staff and educational improvements. Rainwater collection via the butterfly roofs, separated buildings with large classroom openings for cross ventilation, and a grid of light wells put sustainability at the front of the design. The main building curves around an existing tree, preserving the children's landmark.

Rebuilding Ukraine - School

A school design contributing to Ukrainian reconstruction efforts.

COVID-19 Temporary Over-Water Care Facility

A proposal submitted to the Governor of New York and the Mayor of New York City in April 2020, at the start of the pandemic's hospital-capacity peak. Recognising the shortage of available land in Manhattan, the design proposed a rapidly built, removable facility constructed on pilings over the water - gaining an extra floor or two of height over tent structures without occupying city land, with a variant able to retrofit onto existing dock pilings.

On Site and Only On Site

A timber construction study in which glue-laminated beams are milled and assembled on site, using the building foundation itself as the factory floor - eliminating milling costs and outsourcing, with all members finished by the contracting team.

Lobster Economy

A master's thesis project examining the northward migration of lobster stocks as waters warm, and the urban and economic response required as American fisheries lose access and shift toward farming.

Interiors and Bespoke Work

• Marble Slab Accent Wall, Positano Villas, Hollywood FL - slab selection, seaming and sizing coordination for a wrap-around fireplace
• Ivy Curtain, North Ocean Drive, Hollywood FL - a motion-sensor operated ivy curtain screening a condominium garage from the lobby, chosen over a built-in door because it preserves airflow and clearance for large items
• Ortega Bakery Display Case, Toms River NJ - a plywood display with criss-cross undulating shelves built with local craftsmen
• Hidden Rain Garden Operable Raincover, Fort Lauderdale - rain screens for an outdoor dining garden, supported entirely within the seating area so nothing attaches to buildings or interferes with existing trees
• Coal Silo Repurpose, Kenvil NJ - fitting a recording studio into an existing grain silo
• House Cream Dream, Jupiter FL - residential interior design

Pavilions and Competitions

• World's Fair United States Pavilion - a conceptual entry exploring boundaries and belonging, using translucent pod structures and an inverted reconstruction of US national parks on the roof
• Open Mic Beach Pavilion - a travelling venue for the growing open mic and music culture around Brick, NJ
• Bayonne Pavilion - in progress
• Children's Playground - an international competition entry sinking an organic playground below grade so it would not compete visually with the town's Victorian architecture
• Architectural Record logo competition

3D Printing and Products

The studio offers a 3D printing service and designs manufactured objects, including a 3D printed tea light candle holder with contemporary geometry.

Approach

A consistent thread across the work is designing within real constraints - budget, unskilled labour, existing trees, awkward site conditions, or a client requirement that nothing be fixed to the building. Several projects resolve those constraints through construction method rather than form, which is a distinct way of working from studios that treat buildability as a downstream problem.

Who LSPS Works With

• Residential and multifamily developers
• Restaurant, retail and hospitality operators
• Condominium boards and property managers
• Private residential clients
• NGOs and competition organisers on humanitarian and civic projects