site description:

installation at the shelburne museum

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objective:

The Shelburne Museum invited 5 architects to participate in their “32˚ the Art of Winter” show. each of us was to design and build an “Ice Shanty” (abstractly or literally). The structure had to fit and be transported on a small trailer to the museum. 

 

Winter is my absolute favorite season so I was so excited to participate in the Art of Winter and explore the idea of “32 degrees” and the “ice shanty”.

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approach:

25 years ago I took the threat of climate change very seriously and since then my architectural work has been focused on designing sculptural buildings with as little environmental impact as possible.

 

I began the project by thinking about the ephemerality of winter in the context of its seasonal transitions. I worry that our collective actions on earth are causing the season of winter itself to become ephemeral in the context of cosmic time.  Lately it seems we are watching that slowly unfold.  My thoughts about the structure shifted away from the functional ice shanty to the imagery of an ice cube which is quite ephemeral when its surrounding climate exceeds 32 degrees.  This piece explores these ideas with reflections and private transparencies of and in the landscape.

 

When you approach you perceive it as a reflective object expressing the "mood" of the landscape – You cannot see inside, but once inside your perception changes from observing a solid form in the landscape to being an observer with a private transparency to the landscape.

 

The process of designing and building this structure ended up being just as gratifying as the resulting product.  Developing some prefabrication strategies, I built the structure myself within the weight and budget limitations.

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elements:

· dimensions - 6’-8” cube

· four sides with one-way reflective glass. – one panel pivots for entry