It is an eclectic collection of artistic creations with a purpose — warming huts will soon take their place on the river in downtown Winnipeg.
More submissions than ever before were entered in the annual warming hut competition with winning submissions unveiled at The Forks on Friday. Organizers said this year’s competition – Art + Architecture Competition on Ice – received almost 180 entries from local, national and international groups.
“The Warming Huts competition continues to gain traction on an international level and bring fantastic art and architecture to Winnipeg,” Paul Jordan, chief executive officer of The Forks Renewal Corporation said.
“The level of creativity is outstanding – this years’ selections are extremely representative of this environment at The Forks – a bison, a giant look-out tower which really highlights the vast, prairie landscape, and a big tree trunk reminiscent of the driftwood and logs we see floating down the river as it melts each spring.”
RELATED: 2017 warming huts unveiled at The Forks
Out of all the entries, the top three huts were selected by blind jury. The winning submissions were:
- Golden Bison – Mexico
- The Trunk – Vancouver
- Totem – Estonia
PHOTO GALLERY: See the newest warming huts at the Forks.
Golden Bison was the result of combining the bison, the official animal of Manitoba, with the the City of Winnipeg icon The Golden Boy. The Golden Bison is made of 23 layers of lumber and plywood finished with gold paint. Access to warming space is found underneath the animal near the front legs and up four stairs. There is room for up to seven people.
Winnipeg Filmmaker & lecturer at Harvard University, Guy Maddin was invited to design a hut. His entry Temple of Lost Things is located on the river just under the Norwood Bridge.
“Winter may seem long to a Winnipegger, but as histories go, as a life experience, as a set of personal mythologies embedded in a long string of years, our coldest, most beautiful season is heartbreakingly short, as sweet as life itself, a mere bedtime story remembered in the frosty etchings on a child’s windowpane,” Maddin said.
RELATED: Cool Winnipeg warming hut design hot with international judges
The University of Manitoba Faculty of Architecture designed a hut for the eighth year in a row, with this years’s entry titled Pontagon, which is a group of five structures and an “ice plaza” linking the two sides of the river.
“We believe that the opportunity provided to our students by being part of this design-build collaboration provides a highly unique educational experience,” Jonathan Beddoes, dean of the faculty said.
Mennonite Brethren Collegiate Institute also constructed a hut. Hug Mug is a fun but functional structure that represents the spirit of the schools staff, students and alumni. The mug and marshmallow chairs were created by 13 Grade 11 students and their Art teacher Merlin Braun.
RELATED: Red River Mutual Trail open today at The Forks
In all, there were six new warming huts constructed this year to add to favourites from previous seasons, including 2017 winners Open Border and Greetings from Bubble Beach, and past winners: Hygge House, Smokehouse, Skybox, Fir Hut, Apparition, Red Blanket, Windshield, Recycling Words, The Hole Idea, and Red River Mutual’s improved hut made of recycled materials and adorned with Kal Barteski script.
The huts are expected to be put in place on the Red River Mutual Trail next week and will remain in place as long as ice conditions allow.