Ice House Board

This is the final product board for my ice fishing house. In the end, my design became more permanent instead of one that could collapse to save space. I guess I cared more about creating a whimsical experience than I did about simple transport and erection. When I was on the ice, I couldn't always tell what was near and what was far. Especially during the day, when the sun is shining off the ice and snow, that idea of scale is significantly skewed. With my form, I tried to create the illusion of grain elevators in the distance. Because this region is so flat, I hoped it would offer an odd sort of familiarity, if not an ironic one. Something to the effect of, "Are we really, on the lake? What are those grain bins doing there in the middle?" And as one closes the gap between far and near, they start to recognize scale, surface treatment, and, if the fisherman inside is clever, hoorahs and exclamations from the structure.

Continuing the theme of "whimsical experience", I experimented with the different surface treatments to create textures and effects that one usually doesn't see, especially in this region. Midwest architecture, particularly in very agricultural communities, tends to be very much about practicality, efficiency, and opportunity. This can result in very sensible and systematic structures or perhaps very unique, piecewise arrangements. I wanted to create a meeting between those two, offering a space efficient shelter with a little bit of "left-field" experiential treatment.

I am quite fond of Bart Prince and his quirky surface treatments, and, as a result, shingled the curved forms in a more organic fashion. This hopefully creates contrast to the typical board and batten siding of the rest of the structure takes. I very much enjoy taking things and putting them beside others that are completely different. To me, it makes things interesting. And, I hope you enjoy it. I will be sure to add photographs of the model as soon as it is returned to me.

As an added bonus, please enjoy this link a friend forwarded to me to sum up her thoughts about ice fishing! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Os19uEyJNQo