‘It’s the power of art’: Construction of warming huts underway at The Forks

Design teams are putting the finishing touches on their warming huts for the river trail at The Forks this winter.

The Nestaweya River Trail is getting an artistic makeover.

Picked from over 200 global submissions, construction is underway this week on seven new installations which are part of The Forks annual warming hut design competition.

Three submissions were selected as official competition winners.

They include “Moon Rabbit” from Shanghai, China; “Wildlife Scramble” from Fayetteville, AR. and Gainesville, FL. United States; and “Dram: As the Cold Answers” from Paris, France and Brussels, Belgium.

An installation from an invited artist from Germany (Franziska Agrawal) called “Continuum: When Water Pauses and We Move” seeks to transform part of the Assiniboine River into a 30-metre snow corridor.

Bison Run School’s “Warm Up with a Great Book” design focuses on literacy and connection, and the University of Manitoba’s Faculty of Architecture’s “Bridge-Stars for John Hedjuk” which uses scaffolding as its primary structural system, are also making a splash.

For the first time ever, Travel Manitoba is building a hut designed by Uphouse Inc. The “Heartwarming Hut” is a heart-shaped structure made of a wood and a plasma-cut steel frame. It is meant to represent the heartbeat of the people who make up Canada.

At a presentation at The Forks unveiling the builds, Peter Hargraves from Sputnick Architecture Inc. noted the impact of the new strucres.

“Each of the huts that you see behind me, and outside, represent a set of thoughts, and those thoughts again are how art transports us from one place to another. It’s the power of that art that inspires us to move on the river,” said Hargraves.

Winning Designs

The three winning designs are aimed at tapping into an array of perspectives. “Moon Rabbit” by Yu Liu is a rabbit-shaped structure that is built with a timber frame and translucent polycarbonate walls which enable the ancient and mythological figure to glow at night.

“Wildlife Scramble” by Charles Sharpless, Adrian Gonzales, and sisters Jessica and Ashley Colangelo, is an interactive design highlighting the province’s flora and fauna through illustrated, 360-degree rotating blocks.

“Dram: As the Cold Answers” by Noel Picaper and Joffrey About, reimagines the ancient siege ram as a “quiet point of encounter on the ice,” according to the architects. The design features a horn-shaped weathervane which whistles in the wind, and a suspended tree trunk which acts a gong.

“We like the idea that it’s a strange figure and that people just are invited to come, and also with the sounds, it’s something that we think it will invite people to come outside and it’s something that they will enjoy in the winter and in a public space,” said About.

The Forks says it welcomes community members to come down and watch the construction of the structures during build week. Guests will also have the chance to meet with designers.

Once construction is completed, the huts will be transported to the ice and will remain open for the rest of the season.