Exchange Met students’ warming hut is on the ice at now-open Nestaweya River Trail

“When you push [yourself] to do things and you really believe in yourself, you can do things that are incredible,” said Abby Stuart, grade 10 student at Exchange Met school. In her case, it was The Present, a brand new warming hut on The Forks’ Nestaweya River Trail, which is now open to the public.

Stuart, designer of the hut, said her favourite part of the process was seeing her vision come to life, and knowing that it’s something many people will enjoy into the future.

The warming hut design was initially submitted as a school assignment along with designs from the rest of the class. With help from an architecture firm, the class narrowed it down to three designs. From there it was up to The Forks, who chose The Present as winner of the annual warming hut competition open to Manitoba schools.

Stuart said she wanted the warming hut to “be an image of joy and family gatherings.” The purple and blue colour scheme was in honour of her grandparents’ favourite colours.

Students from grades 9-12 at Exchange Met school helped with the construction, which began in an indoor facility, and was finished outdoors on a particularly cold day. “It was a challenge, but we worked through it,” says Stuart.

Alongside The Present, five other warming huts were designed by designers and architects from Canada, China, Scotland, and the United States.

Jaimie Isaac and Suzanne Morrissette’s ROSEMARY Skool warming hut was inspired by the birch bark basket and “conceptually references knowledge carriers and vessels to contain gifts.” It was built with clay from the river and snow and will stay on the river until the ice melts and the natural materials return to nature.

A warming hut called Pom Pom was designed by two Chinese architects, Haoran Deng and Bicen Song. Inspired by beavers, the hut “reminds us of our responsibility to protect and preserve the natural world,” said Deng and Song.

Nick Green and Greig Pirrie of Scotland designed Prairie Castle, a warming hut combining the looks of a Manitoba grain elevator and Scottish castles.

Wrong Turn, designed by Christopher Loofs, Kaci Marshall, and Jordan Loofs of the United States, depicts a car sinking through ice, and is a visual reminder of the impacts of climate change.

Each year, students at the University of Manitoba’s Faculty of Architecture design a warming hut—this year, it was Prototype Home. It represents a single-person transitional housing unit, “in response to the current volume of Winnipeg citizens experiencing homelessness.”

These additions will shelter, inspire, connect, and welcome visitors of the Nestaweya River Trail, for this year and more to come.