Frozen ecologies

Joseph Dahmen, Patrick Birch, Elizabeth Chong, Amanda Nalli, Katie Peruniak, Siubhan Rudge, Brant York

As part of ARCH 544C: Material ecologies, Joseph Dahmen led a one-day workshop to create an ephemeral snow arch at Cypress Mountain. The learning objective was to explore structural form and use of available resources - in this case, snow! The students used a simple hanging chain model to determine the parabolic geometry, then derived modular plywood formwork with Rhino. The pieces were then cut with the CNC machine, packed up, and snowshoed to Hollyburn Ridge. At a site overlooking the city, the students erected the formwork, and built the arch with snow.