Sylvan Solar Shade is a collapsible shade pavilion designed to improve the public patios in Inman Square, Cambridge. The ongoing efforts to create outdoor public spaces within Cambridge has been aiming to create a comfortable and enjoyable environment. However, within Inman Square the limited shade cover and declining number of trees in the area has made the seating increasingly hostile to potential users. Sylvan Solar Shade was designed to address this problem. 

Sylvan Solar Shade’s structure utilizes a compact design and collapsible architecture to make installation accessible and easy. Additionally, Sylvan Solar Shade’s shade cover mimics the way that sun rays pass through the leaves of the honey locust tree in order to create a calming and cooling place to relax. The solar shade does this by layering two separate pieces of fabric on top of one another. The first layer is a stretched nylon with cutouts in the pattern of honey locust leaves to allow the sun to pass through. The second layer is a thin piece of UV-reflective canvas. In tandem, the layers allow for light to project the patterns of tree leaves onto the interior of the pavilion, while shielding the occupants of Inman Square from the heat and UV rays of the sun.