New warming huts unveiled at The Forks in Winnipeg — but look with your eyes

This winter's warming huts are officially on display along the river skating trail at The Forks in Winnipeg — but people are asked to appreciate with their eyes.

The Forks hosts an annual warming hut competition that pits designers against each other to create huts that are aesthetically pleasing and can shelter visitors from the Manitoba cold.

Warming huts unveiled at The Forks in Winnipeg

4 years ago

Duration 1:15

This winter's warming huts are officially on display along the river skating trail at The Forks in Winnipeg — but people are asked to appreciate with their eyes.

The 2021 submissions were unveiled Friday. But in order to follow COVID-19 protocols, this year's competition is all about how they look.

"This year more than ever, I think it's important to have art, architecture and things to talk about and things to look at," said Clare MacKay, vice-president of strategic initiatives at The Forks.

"Our warming huts have never been particularly warm in the traditional sense. So ones that you might have been going into before, we've put up a little sign that says, 'Admire me from outside.'"

There were over 150 submissions for the competition from designers around the world, said MacKay — but only three huts, including one from a team in Winnipeg, were selected.

The Forks also reached out to the three people who initially started the warming huts challenge, asking them to create a warming hut, MacKay said. Another hut was made by the University of Manitoba.

In total, there are seven new warming huts joining the other 30 placed along the river trail, she said.

Dirk Blouw, an architect from AtLRG Architecture in Winnipeg, was at The Forks Friday unveiling a warming hut that is not of this world.

Blouw made his hut look like a spacecraft that crash landed.

"Sometimes, when you get down on the river in the winter and squint your eyes, you almost feel like you're on an alien landscape," he said when asked about his inspiration for the creation.

"[UFOs are] also something that is out of the ordinary. There's a certain degree of excitement in the mystery surrounding the phenomena of unidentified flying objects, so it seemed like a fun topic to tackle."

Blouw is unsure why the spacecraft crash landed in Winnipeg — especially since "nobody really plans where they crash land." But it's fortunate it did so at The Forks, he said.