2° merges sculpture and agriculture, livening Provencher Boulevard in front of La Maison des Artistes with a whimsical garden space for people to relax and daydream in. The garden recalls St. Boniface’s historic ties to the livestock industry, and symbolizes the positive steps we can take to reduce emissions and move towards a bright future. A mowed path traces a timeline from current methods, through better practices, and towards regrowth, winding its way through a pasture of clover, entering a field of flax, and ending in a shaded grove. Whimsical cow forms and black emission cubes follow the timeline, the cows becoming more ordered and the cubes shrinking as better herd and land practices lower emissions by 1/3. Black emission cubes become green vegetation cubes in the shaded grove, revealing that less land needed to produce feed crops, more gardens can be planted.
Big Red by OPEN Design Collaborative
2016 Competition Winner
Big Red responds to the rich history of The Forks as a natural and cultural intersection where the Assiniboine River flows into the Red. This proposal offers Winnipeg an engaging and temporary landmark that is visible from points along the Red River, including the Esplanade Riel and the Canadian Museum for Human Rights’ Tower of Hope. The installation is an assembly of stacked red sandbags arranged to create a red ‘X’ that transforms the manicured slopes of the Red River into an active social zone. In the spirit of this historic gathering place, Big Red activates the river’s edge by creating an armature to support seating, socializing, relaxing and play. Reminiscent of the sandbagging efforts during the great Red River Floods, the build of Big Red is envisioned as a social event and community-building process in which volunteers gather to help construct the work.