Of Snow and Ice

On the first day of Spring - aka the Vernal Equinox - I thought it would be appropriate to feature The Snow Show, a showcase of collaborative designs in Finland's Lapland that use snow and ice as primary building materials. Curated by New York's Lance Fung, The Snow Show is open until March 31 in the towns of Kemi and Rovaniemi.

For those unwilling or unable to trek to the Arctic Circle in time, The Snow Show's web page features extensive documentation on the fifteen built works, as well as participants in the Venice Biennale's exhibition before the final fifteen were chosen.

The ephemerality of the projects is its most unique characteristic. As each team is made up of an architect (or firm) and an artist, the former must deal with a material that speeds up the lifespan of the structure and therefore questions their typical design process. Working with artists further affects the designs, though the extent differs.


Ando and Miyajima, image by Jeffrey Debany

In Tadao Ando and Tatsuo Miyajima's "U"-shaped corridor the definition of each team member's contribution is clear: Ando used walls to create the space and Miyajima added LED "counter gadgets" counting from one to nine to create a "time tunnel of life." At the same time the ice and the displays work together, the latter arching through the space to reinforce the curve of the plan and section.


Hadid and Guo-Qiang, image by Jeffrey Debany

Zaha Hadid and Cai Guo-Qiang's project displays the British architect's flowing forms while Guo-Qiang contributes fire (via a vodka mixture poured along the ice shelves) in performances that speed up the melting of the ice, changing the piece's initial form.

These two examples show how each team member considered the structural capacity of ice and snow in its many forms, its construction, and its lifespan, though each in different ways.