Warming Huts competition honoured for ‘human values’

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 27/09/2022 (1340 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Warming Huts competition, which has handed out awards for innovative architectural installations displayed on the Red and Assiniboine rivers since 2009, has earned design honours of its own.

The annual event has won the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada’s International Prize, which honours architectural works that are “emblematic of the human values of respect and inclusiveness,” and are both inspired and inspiring.

Winnipeg firms Sputnik Architecture; Crosier, Kilgour & Partners, Engineers; consultant Luca Roncoroni, the creative director of the Ice Hotel in Sweden; and The Forks Renewal Corporation team up each winter for the contest, officially known as Warming Huts: An Art + Architecture Competition.

Huts are built following architectural blueprints and placed alongside the Nestaweya River Trail, a path on the frozen rivers that thousands of skaters, cross-country-skiers and hikers use each winter.

It has attracted designs from around the world, including from noted architects such as Frank Gehry and Anish Kapoor, and from countries that rarely receive snowfall and whose rivers never freeze over.

One award juror says Warming Huts are “an annual refreshing of ideas and ambitions that dances with the unpredictability of nature.”

One Winnipeg Warming Huts enthusiast will be chosen to be part of the award jury for 2023 after the competition invited video submissions during the summer. The new juror will be announced Oct. 7.

Another addition for 2023 invites all Manitoba schools to provide their ideas for a warming hut, using ideas from their communities, with the winner’s design to be part of the display on the river trail.

“We see this as an opportunity for mentorship, networking and a lot of fun. The selected team of students will have the chance to experience the process of building public art, and they will also give the competition fresh ideas and fresh perspectives,” Sara Stasiuk, chief executive officer of The Forks, says in a release.

Submissions for the 2023 Warming Huts event remain open until Oct. 4 at 2 p.m. Winners will be announced in November and the structures will be built in January when the river trail opens for the winter.

Alan.Small@winnipegfreepress.com

Twitter: @AlanDSmall