Warming Huts Make Winter Weather Whimsical

By Mitchell Clute

Even by Canadian standards, Winnipeg, Manitoba, is cold; outsiders refer to it as “Winterpeg.” In the winter, everything freezes solid—including the Assiniboine and Red Rivers, which intersect at the heart of town. In fact, the freeze is so consistent that each year the city creates a two-mile skating trail for locals to enjoy along the rivers.

Cold Hands, Hot Idea

These challenging conditions led one local architect to start a competition for innovative warming huts that has resonated around the globe, drawing architectural entries from as far away as South America and China. And it all started with frozen fingers.

“I was on the skating trail with my kids, trying to tie the laces on three sets of skates in the cold, and my fingers were crying out for help,” explains Peter Hargraves of Sputnik Architecture. “I knew there was a need for better shelter along the trail. I thought, what if we turned the trail into an exhibit space, an art gallery that actually serves the need for resting places?”

What’s a Warming Hut?

The first year, the hut designs came from local architects on an invitation-only basis. In 2010 the first Warming Huts Art + Architecture Competition was born, sponsored by the Manitoba Association of Architects, with grants to fund the building of winning entries in the Shelter and Art categories. And based on the entries created over the competition’s six-year history, a warming hut can be made of almost anything.

Past winners include a hut sheathed in mirrors, one made of hay bales, one of coiled rope, one carved from a giant block of foam, and one constructed of split wood stacked within a metal frame. An entry called Woolhaus was constructed entirely of hanging sleeves of felt. In other words, art is as important as function, and the wide variety of forms and materials are meant to inspire as much as provide shelter from the river winds.

Though the competition is open to everyone, even big names have gotten in on the fun; in 2012, one of the winning entries was built by the renowned architect Frank Gehry, using enormous blocks of ice.

Art, Shelter—Both, Neither?

Hargraves says that some people’s online feedback has objected to the impractical approach to shelter that the warming huts provide. “They wonder why we don’t build log cabins, or provide heat,” he says. “But this isn’t about survival; it’s about a culture that provides the element of art for us to enjoy.”

The beauty of the competition, he indicates, is that it takes an element of life in Winnipeg that many bemoan—the frigid winter weather—and creates a unique value from it. “We’ve turned the worst element of life here on its ear and tried to find the good in it, with some surprising results,” Hargraves says. “In an odd way it’s exotic, because not many places could do this. It started with me being cold, and became this delightful discovery.”

Learn more at www.warminghuts.com.