Temple of Lost Things, a warming hut design by Guy Maddin, is one of this year’s designs at The Forks. (THE FORKS)

Guy Maddin

This year’s warming huts at The Forks will have a celebrity appeal as celebrated Winnipeg filmmaker Guy Maddin lends his creative talents in designing a structure.

Maddin is the invited artist this season and will construct a piece called “Temple of Lost Things.”

“I’m ludicrously honoured by the invitation to create a structure for this incredible annual event,” Maddin said.

“In the international world of design, The Forks’ Warming Hut competition has made our city the world capital of winter — it took me two seconds to say yes!”

Maddin’s piece represents the accrual of memories over the history of each winter, and the act of the memory pillars melting come springtime will mimic forgetting.

Golden Bison, one of this year’s winning warming hut designs. (THE FORKS)

Paul Jordan, CEO of The Forks Renewal Corporation, says nearly 200 entries were received from local, national and international artists and architecture groups representing Europe, Asia, Australia, and North and South America.

“The Warming Huts competition continues to gain traction on an international level and bring fantastic art and architecture to Winnipeg,” Jordan said.

The blind jury had the difficult task of widdling down the rest of the entries to only three.

Golden Bison

David Alberto Arroyo Tafolla
Morelia, Michoacan, Mexico

The Golden Bison warming hut (THE FORKS)

Taking two key pieces in the symbolic identity of the region as a starting point, the hut takes the form of the bison, official animal of the province of Manitoba and the golden property of the sculpture “Eternal Youth”, commonly known as “The Golden Boy” — the unmistakable icon of the city of Winnipeg. Thus, the Golden Bison is born.

Totem

Architecture Office b210
Tallinn, Estonia

The Totem warming hut (THE FORKS)

Blinding white horizon with snow plummeting into your eyes. The wind is cold and road is long. Suddenly, a towering tower in front of you, forming a point of reference to your journey. A point of recognition and an opportunity to view what is coming and what or who is left behind from a whole new angle.

The Trunk

The Trunk warming hut (THE FORKS)

Camille Bianchi and Ryder Thalheimer
Vancouver, BC.

The Trunk is an inhabitable tree. It is constructed of layers of laminated wood, each cut in the shape of a single growth ring. By layering the rings a record of change and time are revealed vertically, seemingly infinite towards the sky. The Trunk is inspired by the quiet slowness of growth in the natural world.

The University of Manitoba’s Faculty of Architecture has also been invited back for an eighth year as a builder, along with the MBCI Hut by Mennonite Brethren Collegiate Institute students.

Construction of the huts will begin in early January and eventually be brought down to the Red River Mutual Trail the last week of that month, weather permitting.

RAW:almond — the culinary river ice experience — will return for another year. Tickets go on sale December 10.