[Snow as a living structure] By Mads Frølund Poulsen Unit D 2013/14 For pin-up on September 20, 2013
[Intro] Walking around in the white landscape. Squeezing the eyes together. The light is so intense. It is cold. Got the feeling of being far away from everything. The only sound to be heard is the dull sound of cars in the distance. A fine new layer of snow really changes everything. It changes the whole atmosphere. The phenomenon of snow is an intriguing and ephemeral phenomenon for most people. The amount of snow we get here in Denmark varies a lot from year to year, but some of the countries in the north have snow and temperatures below 0째C for many months a year. Here they have to deal with snow every day. But what does snow do to us? And what can we architects do to the snow?
[2 of 6]
Private photo, (2012) Snow on trees
[The phenomenon of snow] Snow is white in its appearance, and it consists of small ice crystals that together make snowflakes. The snowflakes can stack up on a surface and create a snow carpet. There are various kinds of snow: powder snow, crust snow, wet snow etc. and they all have different properties. Precipitation comes in the form of snow, when super-cooled water vapor gets in connection with ice crystals in the clouds and freeze, before the water vapor denses and turns to water drops instead. When enough ice crystals have gathered and the snowflakes are heavy enough, they fall to the ground. Size and appearance of the snowflakes depend a lot on the temperature and humidity of the air. “Warmer” air and higher humidity will make bigger snowflakes. It is said, that no snowflakes are identical. The intensity of the snowfall can vary from just slowly falling small snowflakes to a blizzard. Snow is great in volume compared with water, but the snow cover is constantly changing - getting denser, melting and getting stronger. Snow denses when it is under pressure and when it melts. This makes the ice crystals bigger because they melt together. The denser the snow gets, the stronger and better insulating it is. Actually snow can get so strong that one can use it as a building material. Not only the physical properties change, the visual/immaterial properties changes as well. Compressed snow is more edgy and uneven in its appearance than fresh snow. Snow can melt and freeze again, but it will never go back to its original form. The phenomenon of snow is very ephemeral in Denmark since snow melts at temperatures above 0°C and turns to the fluid state of the material water.
Batigne, Stéphane(2005) Vejret, (Sønstabø, Kai-Asle, Trans.) Denmark: Aschehoug, p. 34-37 (Original edition: The visuel guide to understanding climate and the environment, Montreal, Canada: QA International) National Snow and Ice Data Center, (2013) All About Snow: Snow Characteristics [Online], <http://nsidc.org/cryosphere/snow/science/characteristics. html> [accessed: 18 September 2013] Snowy weather (2012), Art Making in the North: The Miracle of Life <http://artmakinginthenorth.blogspot.dk/2012/02/miracle-of-life.html> [accessed: 18 September 2013]
[3 of 6]
Private photo, (2012) Large amounts of snow
[Cover] The covering should make a space big enough for a couple of people to stand inside of it and experience the phenomenon of snow. One should have the possibility to touch and fell the snow in order to get the full experience, but the covering should also create some kind of shelter. As said earlier, snow can become a solid material, and normally one would try to cover oneself from the snow, but it is also possible to use it as a cover. A thin layer of snow is translucent while a thicker and denser layer is not, so it can also be a covering from light. The materials for the cover should therefore be able to interact with snow, which could be a part of the covering.
Linden, Michelle (2007), Echigo-Matsunoyama Museum of Natural Science, Atelier-ad.blogspot.dk, <http://atelier-ad.blogspot.dk/2007/05/probablynot-enery-efficient.html>[accessed: 18 September 2013] Hughes, Chris (2012), Ice Hotel in Jukkasjärvi, Sweden, Strange Funny World: The Ice Hotel in Sweden, <http://strangefunnyworld.com/ icehotel/>[accessed: 18 September 2013] Alexander Brodskyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Ice Pavilion, (xxxx), The Paper City, <http://thepapercity.tumblr.com/post/38626095182/alexander-brodsky-ice-pavilion-with-theice> [accessed: 19 September 2013]
[4 of 6]
Etherington, Rose (2010), The Snow by Tokujin Yoshioka, [Online] 26th July 2010. Available from: Dezeen < http://www.dezeen.com/2010/07/26/thesnow-by-tokujin-yoshioka/>
[Body] Snow affects our body in more ways, but the first thing we think of, when we think of snow is cold. Snow is, as said before, frozen water molecules Therefore snow affects your senses by being cold to touch or to get touched by. The snow affects sound as well. This depends a lot of the characteristics and age of the snow. A fresh layer of fluffy snow absorbs the sound waves very well, while denser snow with a harder surface reflects the sound. That is the reason why everything sounds dull during or right after a snowfall. It also makes a crunching sound, when one walks on snow. The crunchy sound is made from the friction between the ice grains rubbing against each other. We are also affected by snow visually. Snow reflects light and the surface of the snow glitters in the sun. Snow is perceived as white, because it reflects the white beams of light so well. You can actually get snow blind from not wearing any protection for your eyes, when you are walking in a snow landscape while the sun is shining. The direct opposite happens by heavy snowfall. It can snow so intensively that one will not be able to see five meters ahead of one.
[5 of 6]
Nylander, Jonathan (2009),Rainbow Glitter, Flickr, <http://www.flickr.com/photos/jawrr/3260932457/>[accessed: 19 September 2013]
[Living structures] Snow is an ever-changing material, which can stack and pile up and become a solid material. The properties of the snow and the way it affects the body depend on temperature, humidity and pressure. So I want to create a â&#x20AC;&#x153;living structureâ&#x20AC;? that gives you different experiences depended on the weather conditions. This should be done by using the properties of the snow to make a covering of it - a cover of snow, that covers people from the snow. Igloos and snow caves are great examples on how people use snow as a building material. But snow may have the properties to build itself up around other structures without someone actively processing the snow. If such a structure can be created, the space inside of it will be ever changing while snow is apparent. That will make both the spatial and the bodily experience change due to the weather conditions. One will be very exposed to the snow by snowfall, but the snow will slowly start making a covering, and thus change the experience.
[6 of 6]