We wondered what professional architects would do with all that white stuff.
So we asked four local architectural firms — HDR, Bahr Vermeer & Haecker, Leo A. Daly and Min/Day — to submit plans for, both literally and figuratively, the coolest snow forts, snow parks and ice sculpture habitats in town.
Their designs are all conceptual — nothing has actually been built. Still, all of the projects are practical, not theoretical, meaning the firms could build them for clients.
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Superman might get homesick looking at “Ice Garden.”
This glistening, asymmetrical structure has an otherworldly appearance. In fact, comic book fans might mistake it for the Man of Steel's North Pole domicile.
But the frozen habitat is actually a conceptual design from the San Francisco and Omaha-based architectural firm Min/Day.
The World-Herald asked four firms to submit plans for cool snow forts, snow parks and ice sculptures. A team from Min/Day –– partners E.B. Min and Jeffrey Day, along with their assistants Jeffrey Davis and Bryce Willis –– conceived of this edifice, which is fashioned entirely from ice.
The space would serve a dual purpose. It would be a social gathering place and also function as an ad hoc –– or pop-up –– restaurant.
Min, who runs Min/Day's San Francisco office, said the West Coast's pop-up restaurant craze was part of the inspiration for “Ice Garden.”
“We have lots of roaming chefs in San Francisco who set up temporary restaurants in outdoor spaces,” Min said in a recent phone interview. “A pop-up restaurant seemed like a perfect match for an ice structure, because both ice and pop-ups are ephemeral.”
“Ice Garden” could be built on any cold site. The Min/Day team envisioned it on the frozen pond of Omaha's Gene Leahy Mall.
“We do our best work when we design a structure for a specific site,” said Min. “The Gene Leahy Mall provides us with lots of scenic inspiration, and it also gives us the only building material we need, which is ice.”
Construction of “Ice Garden” would be both a low- and high-tech affair.
Work would begin with an invitation to the community to come down to the mall for a traditional ice harvest.
“We'd have families use saws to cut out blocks of ice from the mall's frozen pond,” said Day. “Back in the 19th century, ice was harvested that way.”
The second phase of construction requires state-of-the-art machine tools. A robotic arm, which the design team has nicknamed S.N.O. Bot, would cut the ice blocks into pentagons and hexagons of various sizes. A computer program would guide the S.N.O. Bot in milling each block with precision.
Last year, Architectural Record, a monthly trade magazine, named Min/Day to its top-10 list of the world's vanguard firms. Only two other U.S. firms made the list.
The magazine's annual “Design Vanguard” issue recognizes firms that are incorporating digital technologies, exploring new materials and generally shaking up the world of architecture and design.
Min/Day employed that kind of cutting-edge technology to create its “Ice Garden” design. But the team used its complex computer algorithms to achieve a commonplace shape.
“The completed structure would look like a series of connected and extended soccer balls that are all made of ice,” said Day.
Workers would use a slushy mixture of snow and ice to bind the individual, soccer ball-shaped hexagons together.
“In cold temperatures, the slush will freeze like cement,” said Davis.
“Ice Garden” would feature two large circular structures –– with circumferences of about 20 to 30 feet –– that look like glass soccer balls with their tops cut off. Day envisions a chef using the space as a pop-up restaurant.
A series of eight smaller ice domes would be connected to the two larger spaces. These miniature habitats would be places for people to mingle and talk. They also would be natural hangouts for kids.
In each of the smaller cells, a specific ceiling hexagon would be removed to provide a view of a downtown landmark, such as the First National Bank Tower.
The exact size and configuration of “Ice Garden” could change every winter. S.N.O. Bot would simply need a different set of algorithms.
But Day likes the Gene Leahy Mall location.
“It would give people who are going to the Old Market and the Holland Performing Arts Center a reason to visit the mall in the wintertime,” he said.
Contact the writer:
444-1076, john.pitcher@owh.com
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