Sunspot, along with four other skating shelters designed by local and international architecture firms, was part of an exhibition of “Warming Huts” along the Forks River Trail in winter of 2009.The finished project is the result of a collaboration between 5468796 Architecture and Winnipeg-based artist Ewa Trasia. The sphere is an extension of Ewa’s exploration of ‘dot’, a recurring theme in her recent work, as well as an interpretation of the ultimate source of heat – the sun.The Sunspot hangs from the Forks’ Historic Rail Bridge, hovering just three feet above the frozen river. Composed of a structural frame coated in a skin of ice and coloured water, the interior is rendered with a vibrant and warm glow that evokes Tarsia’s painting plates. A large diameter opening at the bottom of the sphere allows skaters to enter and experience the transformed sky. The bottom ring provides a rope-wrapped bench to rest on, while the structure offers shelter from the wind.