Ice Fishing Huts 2015

The ice fishing huts were the central project for the first year undergraduate design studio of the 2014/15 academic year. The studio was divided into five groups of 13 or 14 students who worked with their professor to develop one shanty. Five huts were built. Images here highlight the Long Hut and the Chair group projects.

After studying the Sudbury Basin and drawing sections in order to record what lies above and below a sheet of frozen water, students were asked to design and build a hut to be used on one of Sudbury's 300 lakes. They studied how a simple one room shelter,  a protected volume in a windy, frozen expanse, in multiple adds up to form a community of huts, creating a social network and seasonal public space during Northern Ontario's long, cold winters.

Students were asked to use ‘economy of means’ to be as efficient as possible with each of their design moves. Lightness, portability, repeatability, and unusual form were all part of the project's vocabulary. 

The design parameters for the Ice Hut were intentionally left open-ended for investigation. Very simply they were to be made primarily made of wood, have a floor plan size be between 3 m2  [32 sf] and no larger than 6 m2 [64 sf], and not exceed a budget of $1000, including the value of donated items.

Students were introduced to strict budgeting and following a critical path construction plan, which was carried out in the school's one room hybrid shop/studio. Hand held cordless tools were primarily used during construction.

A opening was held outside Science North, a natural history museum, upon completion with hot chocolate and roasted marshmellows to warm the minus 20 temperatures. The huts were then auctioned off to the highest bidder inside of Science North. This project was the first building design project in our four year undergraduate program. For many students it was their first building design project and the first construction they built.

Technical Description