The winners of Winnipeg’s 2016 Cool Gardens have been announced. Cool Gardens is a public exhibition of contemporary garden and art installations that offers a shift of sensation for the summer?cooling?as a general theme for public projects in the downtown. The exhibit aims to bring architects, designers, landscape architects, and artists together to celebrate contemporary garden culture and the local landscape. The presentation of the cutting-edge garden designs, places design culture at the centre of summer activities in Winnipeg and at the same time, offers a pleasant relief from the summer exasperations.
The winners are:

THE WHEAT LOOKOUT

by MARTA MILÀ PASCUAL + MARC TORRELLAS ARNEDO

Barcelona, Spain
The Wheat Lookout is a straw bale installation that celebrates the agricultural heritage of Brandon, The Wheat City. It will be located on the Assiniboine riverbank, next to the Riverbank Discovery Centre, creating a social meeting point. The meeting point is a compact element that is adjustable according to its use: landscape, social or educational. Various components: The tower, the sandbox, the terraces, and the railing, created by movable straw bales, allow users to make their own social spaces to contribute to variability and adaptability.
COOL DUNES

by MATT HAGEN + BRYDGET LEWICKI

Winnipeg
A hidden retreat, a play-scape for passersby, simple yet intriguing, the Cool Dunes are a heat absorbing topography filled with crushed limestone hills of varying h...