Local re_action 3

I have written several times in past months about the work being done by design students from the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, Canada. Just this past week was a groundbreaking for the completion of their latest project. The students, using salvaged lumber from an aging and underutilized barn, reassembled the wood for an addition to a local restaurant.

This new addition recalls history of the town through material reference and construction technique. Its new form and function recapture in some ways what is fading from rural Canadian town life as people transition to nearby urban centers. Abandoned train and agricultural interests reappear symbolically as promising times to come.

The intensity of the process, from deconstruction of existing old structures through construction completion has relied on the resilience and dedication of both students and of local community volunteers. Amazingly, all of the Clearwater projects, including this one, took shape in a matter of days (after months of initial planning).

Local re_action-2

Clearwater studio students are at it again. This this time salvaging lumber from a mid-century barn in rural Manitoba, Canada. The massive arching, laminted beams are soon to be the newest addition to the clearwater community in their yet to be determined regenerative form and function. Check back for future pictures of final student projects. The barns deconstruction process through time-lapse photography can be viewed on flickr.

Local re_action

photo credits: L. Coar

As the saying goes "think locally" truly takes root in actions which do just that. My good friend and colleague, Lancelot Coar guided his University of Manitoba students in the re-use of materials from an abandoned school house in the rural town of Clearwater, Manitoba. Over the last two academic semesters students demolished and preserved wood planks and boards from the early century school house, slated for demolition. Through recent months students then designed and constructed from the salvaged lumber various installations which, were relocated within the community of Clearwater. Students devised a bridge, gazebo and community space, giving back to the small town where the empty school house had left off years ago.