A temporary rest stop. Shelter from the wind. An easy place to sit and tighten the laces on your skates. Those are some of the reasons "ice stations" have become so popular on Sudbury's Ramsey Lake skating path.
It's that time of year again when the first year undergraduate students from Laurentian University's McEwen School of Architecture show off their ice station designs and structures which will be out on the ice until mid-March.
Dozens of the students took part in the unveiling event held Tuesday afternoon, out skating on the lake with friends, family members and enjoying the mild temperatures.
For close to 10 years, it has become something of a tradition for the architecture students to create unique wooden structures to be used as resting stations for the skaters. Community members are invited to get out and visit the new ice stations for themselves, which are accessible until March 15, said a news release from the university.
There are four ice stations on the ice path this year.
Jean-Philippe Saucier, a master lecturer at the school, explained the importance of the exercise.
"It's about learning the importance of understanding place,” Saucier said. “That's what we teach them in first year, like you come here the first semester, we have them look and understand what's here, you know. What's unique about the place, and then have them design something that responds to the university of the place."
Saucier said along with understanding the philosophy of the project is the idea of learning the skill.
"Bringing this kind of philosophy of understanding to people and the place and then designing for the community. I think that's a major philosophy but also kind of learning the skill of actually building something and understanding how you put it together so you can draw something that can be built," said Saucier.
Another reason for the project, said Saucier, is that it gives the students a sense of achievement and satisfaction of doing something for the community at large.
"You see how proud they (the students) are. When it's done, they're taking photos and are very excited and to kind of see something one-to-one already after just a couple of months at the school is amazing. Because in practice, it may take years before you build a full building, right? So this is a quick process and you get the quick gratification," he said.
Saucier said the students draw the designs, acquire the lumber and actually cut and mill the dimensional wood so that they can assemble and build the structures.
There are four new ice stations that have been created. They are the “Murray3”, which is presented by Jean-Philippe Saucier’s French Studio group (10 students); the “Calm in the Eye of the Storm”, which is presented by Aliki Economides’ Studio group (14 students); the “Lemniskate”, which is presented by Michael Damini’s Studio group (12 students); and the “Below Zer°”, which is presented by Tristan O’Gorman’s Studio group (12 students).
Len Gillis covers health care and mining for Sudbury.com.