Invitational Ice Construction
Event III (IICEiii)
Rochester, Minnesota

Saturday January 6th 10am - 5pm & Sunday January 7th 10am - 5pm 2007

Materials & Applications and the Rochester Art Center in Minnesota will host another outdoor construction event this January.

Contact us if you are interested in participating!

For the third year in a row architects, artists and the curious public are invited to participate in constructing temporary forms and structures of ice on the Rochester Art Center grounds. Unlike typical ice constructions that use blocks of ice to build more traditional structures, or use blocks of ice as a solid medium for carving sculpture, these constructions take advantage of two properties of water: its fluidity while in the liquid state, and its hardness in the solid or frozen state to create compound arcing panels.

Last year the goal was to create complex ice forms that defy gravity and encourage curiosity. However as "climate change" continues to change, constructing with ice is sometimes only possible at night. During the day most of the time was spent discussing theory, reviewing what has been done in the field, and freezing scale models in the Art Center walk in freezers. If working indoors or outdoors at night it will be cold enough for some large scale productivity.

As a result of the warmth last year we created a complete slide show about our research into the history of thin shell structure construction and ice experiments. This year we will also add a 3d interactive simulation to experiment with using techonolgy developed by axel killian at the computation lab at the MIT school of architecture.

Inspired by the work of Heinz Isler, the renowned Swiss engineer of thin shell concrete structures, who since 1955, has been experimenting with ice in his winter garden, M&A and the invitees hoped to further explore thin shell construction. Using a garden hose, a spray attachment, and rubber coveralls, Isler creates both beautiful sculptures and functional shelters in ice. He sets up simple supports in the snow, drapes them with a light mesh fabric, and sprays them with layers of fine mist until an icy shell forms. He explains that there is only one rule when playing with the transformation of water into ice; "one has to listen and obey what the water/ice wants to do!"