A shelter is an architectural structure or natural formation (or a combination of the two) providing protection from the local environment. A shelter can serve as a home or be provided by a residential institution. It can be understood as both a temporary and a permanent structure. In the American Counterculture of the 1960s, the concept of "Shelter" intervenes as one of the key concepts of the Whole Earth Catalog, and expresses an alternative to the modes of teaching architecture practiced in American academies.
In the context of Maslow's hierarchy of needs, shelter holds a crucial position as one of the fundamental human necessities, complementing other physiological imperatives such as the need for "air, water, food, rest, clothing, and reproduction."
