Hot Box provides respite from the waterfront's cold winter conditions, a minimalist exploration in perceptual space that seeks to selectively focus one's attention on the mundane, often harsh, yet serenely beautiful, winter conditions on frozen Lake Ontario.
The project was conceived and built for Winter Stations, a single-stage international design competition held annually in Toronto, in which Participants are tasked with designing temporary winter art installations which incorporate existing lifeguard towers spaced strategically across the city’s Kew and Woodbine beaches. Competition drawing showing initial concept
A matte black object standing in stark contrast to the blank white landscape, Hot Box is entered via an unassuming doorway facing the lake. A turn at the end of a corridor leads to a black space within: a fully lined acoustic chamber that absorbs ambient noise so as to heighten an isolated instance of sky, where snow falls silently from an oculus above.