DESIGN FOR ALBERTA'S WINTER LIFE
At Latitude 53 February 16th - April 1st
About the Exhibition
Winter is a defining feature of life in Alberta and the cold climate is often seen as a challenge to navigate. We design with winter in mind, but too often this means isolating us from the elements rather than deliberately connecting us to a beautiful season. The exhibition Sheltered + Exposed offers a discussion on the duality of shelter from and exposure to winter conditions, and the ways in which architecture and design can help to create a balance between these two positions. The exhibition features over 20 recent projects from across the province of Alberta that exemplify ways in which Albertans can enjoy winter life with the support of architecture and design elements. Complementing the built work, Sheltered + Exposed also presents conceptual projects and public artworks that reinforce strong winter design principles. Notably, this exhibition does not dwell on the technical aspects of building science. However, most of the projects included are highly energy efficient, and incorporate passive features into their design allowing building users to experience winter in novel ways.
Alberta features some of the sunniest winters in Canada. The combination of the sun, relatively cold temperatures and dry prairie air creates an environmental and visual experience which is unique in this country. In this context, the consideration of outdoor comfort in cold climates is of prime importance, and the ways in which individual buildings shape the public domain and our day-to-day lives requires a strong discourse. To that end, the exhibition Sheltered + Exposed aims to educate the public on winter design and to foster a critical discussion around the role of winter in projects both built and speculative. Sheltered + Exposed is a challenge to Alberta-based architectural and design professionals to make the enjoyment of winter a key consideration in their practices.
This exhibition was inspired by both the exhibition Vivre et concevoir avec la neige au Québec, produced by Montreal’s Maison de l’architecture du Québec (MAQ), and the City of Edmonton's Winter City Strategy. Vivre et concevoir avec la neige au Québec is being presented in english for the first time in conjunction with our Alberta-based Sheltered + Exposed. With our partner Latitude 53 Contemporary Visual Culture, we are pleased to highlight successful Quebec-based examples of architecture and design which confront winter head on. We aim to create a framework for dialogue about design between these two provinces for whom winter is a defining experience.
The exhibition runs from February 16th until April 1st, 2017, and is open to Latitude 53 members and guests.
Giulliano Palladino’s Inhabit
In conjunction with this exhibition, we are pleased to present an installation by Giulliano Palladino. With Inhabit, Palladino sets out to explore our physical and mental interactions with our everyday environment during Alberta winters.
This exhibition is produced by MADE in partnership with Latitude 53. The curation of this exhibition is led by Shane Laptiste with Ruth Burns, Nola Kilmartin, Tiffany Shaw-Collinge and Adam Waldron-Blain. Project Manager: Danielle Soneff.
Living and Designing with Snow in Québec
After being presented in France and in the province of Québec, Living and Designing with Snow in Québec comes to Edmonton for its first ever presentation in English. The exhibition is a storm of innovative projects from over forty architectural and design agencies and creators in Québec. The exhibition traces fresh paths taken by Québec architects, urbanists, urban designers and landscape architects to offer improved uses of and renewed perspectives on the built environment in winter.
For years, architects in Québec have maintained a love-hate relationship with winter and its collateral effects, such as: snow loads, threatening ice and polar winds. Public spaces were either buried underground or designed as if winter didn’t take place for almost half of the year, and there seemed to be no better solution than to wait for spring. Fortunately, new attitudes are emerging in design and architectural practices to create an enjoyable snowy life — even in the heart of our cities!
From wide-open spaces in the north to sophisticated cottages closer to cities, these experiments are an attempt to develop a truly local architecture as explained by the curator Sophie Gironnay: “Between 1990 and 2010 – a period of recession after recession – the city remained in the hands of unimaginative developers, and it was through private commissions for ‘cottages’ in the country that the most innovative architects, starving for the opportunity to experiment and be passionate about currents in international architecture, could freely engage in new architectural languages. The snow awaited them! From this encounter with nature — its challenges and its requirements — were born ideas that are ready to be used in the heart of the city, when the time comes.” The exhibition also includes luminous designs for everyday life and playful installations in public spaces. It concludes with visions of a not-so-distant future in which concepts ‘go global’ to structure our life with, and not against, snow.
Listen to the Snow
The exhibition is accompanied by Neige, an electroacoustic immersive installation by the collective Audiotopie, which invites visitors to travel into Québec’s winter and its various sensorial experiences. A catalogue presenting the content of the exhibition (in French), including a CD with Audiotopie’s recording, is also available to bring a piece of winter
back home.
A Successful Tour
The exhibition Vivre et concevoir avec la neige au Québec was first presented at the french festival of contemporary architecture Vingt-quatre heures d’architecture in October 2014 in Marseille. It has since been touring in France at the Musée Savoisien in Chambéry (Maison de l’architecture de Savoie), the Maison régionale de l’architecture des Pays de la Loire and the Maison de l’architecture de Normandie – le Forum. It was presented at the MAQ in Montréal during the summer of 2015 and in October in Sherbrooke. At the invitation of MADE, Living and Designing with Snow in Québec is presented in Edmonton at Latitude 53 Contemporary Visual Culture for the first time in English and the tour might well continue later this year
About the Maison de l’architecture du Québec
A catalyst of architectural creativity since 2001, the Maison de l’architecture du Québec is an artist-run centre acting for the development of architectural culture in Québec and Canada, in close relationship with active practitioners here and now, with exhibitions, labs, publications, workshops, public debates and educative activities.
In fifteen years, the MAQ showcased the work of almost 400 firms or individuals, and commissioned roughly 100 original works, generating rich dialogues and creations that opened the frontiers between artistic disciplines, from design to sculpture, from literature to performing arts.
The MAQ is an advocate for architecture, urban planning and landscape design as major forms of art and essential to the life of each and everyone.
List of Architects, Designers, and Artists
Glacier Skywalk by Sturgess Architecture, Calgary - www.sturgessarchitecture.com
Carraig Ridge Edge by Saunders Architecture, Norway - www.saunders.no
Quarters and Inclination by KENNEDY, Edmonton - www.kennedycreate.com
Dinosaur Museum by Teeple Architects, Toronto - www.teeplearch.com
hoUse by AVID Architecture, Edmonton - www.avidarch.ca
Mechanized River Valley Access by Dialog, Edmonton - www.dialogdesign.ca
Huddle Response by Lindsay Farr, Edmonton -
Vaulted Willow by Marc Fornes & THEVERYMANY, USA - www.theverymany.com
Canopy at Shell Place by HOK (formerly 360 Architecture), USA - www.hok.com, and Stantec Architecture (formerly Architecture Tkalcic Bengert), Edmonton - www.arch-tb.com
Ski2LRT by Michelle Jehn, Salma Kaida and Shauna L. Rae, Edmonton
Eau Claire Park and House on a Bluff by the marc boutin architectural collaborative inc., Calgary - www.the-mbac.ca
Weather Catcher by PUBLIC WORK, Toronto - www.publicwork.ca
Victoria Park Pavilion by Rayleen Hill Architecture + Design, Dartmouth - www.rhad.ca
Victoria Park Pavilion by Williamson Williamson, williamsonwilliamson.com/arch/
Local Warming - Warming Huts, Danielle Soneff, Edmonton - www.daniellesoneff.com
Laneway Housing by Studio North - studionorth.ca
Thermal Pools by Michael Zabinski, Edmonton - www.dialogdesign.ca
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Please Contact Krista Franke at kirsta@wearewildheart.com
