WordPress Weekly Photo Challenge: Against All Odds

The theme of this week’s challenge is “Against the Odds”: Maybe it’s a photo of an unlikely occurrence. Maybe it’s the photo itself that goes against the odds — a shot you never thought you’d get. Maybe it’s a photo of something you’re not sure you’ll be able to do.

I chose the “unlikely occurrence” with a bit of a twist, a series of photos of an unlikely occurrence. Who would believe that world-renowned sculptor/artist  Anish Kapoor would have designed an ice hut for Winnipeg’s annual Warming Huts Art and Architecture Competition(as an invited submission)? Kapoor is known internationally for his large-scale public projects, most notably Cloud Gate(“The Bean”) in Chicago. His Warming Hut, called Stackhouse, was made entirely of ice from our Red River…72 tonnes of it. The actual construction/creation of the hut was led by the Norwegian architect Luca Roncoroni. And yes, the warming hut is actually cozy and warm inside!

I made repeated trips in the last few weeks to The Forks in Winnipeg during the construction and took tons of photos.

Harvesting ice from the river:

Slicing the large blocks:

Cutting the blocks to exact size:

Precision construction:

Documenting the project:

Crowds waiting for their chance to climb inside Stackhouse:

Climbing inside the finished warming hut:

Inside the warming hut:

Fun pose in the entranceway:

And in just a few weeks the hut will slowly melt away….maybe sooner if our unseasonably warm weather continues.

Linking to the WordPress Weekly Photo Challenge here.