Welcome to the CUBE: A Design Competition Collaboration

In Fall 2013 Riddell Kurczaba teamed up with Swiderski art + architecture to develop a design proposal for the 2014 Warming Huts design competition in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Endorsed by the Manitoba Association of Architects, the annual competition is an open call to architects and artists from around the world to design small-scale shelters on a modest budget for installation on the Red and Assiniboine Rivers' skating path in Winnipeg. All entrants were tasked with pushing the boundaries of inspiration, design and materials in their proposals.

“CUBE: A Tale of Two Cultures” was the brainchild of the RK-Swiderski alliance and served as our official entry to the competition.

Working alongside Métis-Canadian artist Destiny Swiderski, the RK team – led by intern architects Chris Sparrow and Alex Egberts – conducted a series of design charrettes to formulate a solution. They sought to unite and engage the participants of the Red River Mutual Trail in a celebration of the differences between aboriginal and western cultures.

The result was a structure that featured pivoting walls, allowing for ever-changing possibilities by users to reconfigure the structure according to the weather. The walls could be closed in to offer protection from the elements on cold days, or opened up to let the air flow through on warm days. Moreover, the walls were comprised of rotating “beads,” infused with aboriginal and western cultural artifacts, textures, stories and music makers, to enable an insightful and interactive aspect to the pavilion.

While the RK-Swiderski entry was ultimately not selected among the top three in the open competition submittals, we are very proud of our design proposal and extend our congratulations to all the winning entries. We look forward to participating in next year's competition!

For more details on the design competition, visit warminghuts.com.