b210

b210 is an architecture office with a think tank approach to everyday spatial challenges. We believe that positive change in the built environment is driven by a smart design process where architectural ideas are as important as methods of developing them. We like to design ways of thinking as much as physical spaces.

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Totem

/ˈtəʊtəm/
an object (such as an animal or plant) serving as the emblem of a family or clan and often as a reminder of its ancestry

Installation TOTEM was built for installation festival Warming Huts – an art and architecture competition on ice in Winnipeg, Canada.  The river flowing through the town freezes for couple of months in the winter and is creating an unique extention to the public space that people take in to use as a walking and skating path. Alongside the path spaces for stopping are created by international artists and architects. Selected by an open competition they provide shelter from the cold and new experiences in the magical winter landscape.

 

Photo: Jeff Vernaus

 

 

 

Winnipeg has its unique character in winter when river freezes and becomes natural extension of public space used by families with kids, skaters, dogwalkers and many others. Totems were installed on the river to serve as a catalyst for public intervention in the endless landscape of frozen Red River.

 

 

Project Totem provides an unique experience to climb a tower that is as narrow as the person him- or herself. Totems placed as welcome gates create an abstract space. The aura in-between them link the two together spiritually. The border of space defined by volumes of totems becomes the catalyst for interaction -individuals meet with a glance from up above. It is about the person’s individual journey- an experience being alone 5m above, becoming a collective experience when shared between two climbers – strangers or friends.

The installation took careful engineering to make sure the towers are well anchored to the ice, making them stable to climb even in windy conditions.

 

 

 

 

Both towers can be climbed by one person at a time, and the towers stand close enough to each other to allow for the people on top to communicate across the heads of the people below. Climbing the towers is about personal experience, testing the limits of the climber.

Blinding white horizon with snow plummeting into your eyes. The wind is cold and road is long. Suddenly, a towering object 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.

https://www.facebook.com/studio.b210/videos/2041736255867337/

Design team: Aet Ader, Mari Hunt, Zane Kalnina, Kadri Klementi, Nele Šverns, Karin Tõugu
Engineer: Egon Kivi
Special thanks: The Forks Renewal Corporation, Sputnik Architecture, Ron Loeppky, Gerald Loeppky, Willy Plett, Andrew Plett, Joel Plett, Old Oak Farm, Hawthorne Woodworks Ltd, Estonian Cultural Endowment, The Estonian Association of Architects

http://www.warminghuts.com/

 

 

 

 

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25. septembrist 2013 24. septembrini 2014 aitas OÜ-l b210 põhivara ja rakendustarkvara soetada Ettevõtluse Arendamise Sihtasutuse alustava ettevõtja starditoetuse programm.