Lead Firm: Sputnik Architecture Inc. & The Forks Renewal Corporation
Completion: February 2019
Taking place in Winnipeg, MB, Warming Huts is an annual project that engages local and international designers, artists, and students each winter to design and create structures that are installed along with public skating and pedestrian trail on the ice of the city鈥檚 frozen rivers. Activating urban spaces in mid-winter, the project is an innovative and engaging example of urban design successfully bringing people together, from both Winnipeg and from all over the world. Visitors to the Warming Huts share in鈥攁nd engage with鈥攁rt, architecture, and culture in the public realm, and celebrate all that Winnipeg鈥檚 cold climate has to offer.
PHOTO:听The Forks Renewal Corporation
PHOTO:听The Forks Renewal Corporation
PHOTO:听The Forks Renewal Corporation
PHOTO:听The Forks Renewal Corporation
PHOTO:听The Forks Renewal Corporation
PHOTO:听The Forks Renewal Corporation
"Originally entered in another category, the judges have awarded the Community Initiatives award to the Warming Huts (Winnipeg) as a great example of community collaboration and creativity.
鈥淟ed by Winnipeg design professionals, this initiative has had wide and ongoing community involvement as well as support from The Forks (a City- linked organization). This initiative has grown over time, involved many designers and artists, and drawn national and international attention to Winnipeg鈥檚 burgeoning design scene.鈥�
"The transformative impact that the Warming Huts program has had in converting Winnipeg's rivers into an active winter civic space is impressive鈥攅ven more so given its humble volunteer-based roots. In this regard, the Warming Huts program manages to successfully complement other river-related initiatives and generate a remarkable degree of community engagement since its inception. It also managed to engage and transform the broader public realm adjacent to the river corridors with the often judicious placement of the huts. The program鈥檚 scope is ambitious鈥攇iving Winnipeg significant international exposure."
Jury members