Simply called Unavailability, this achingly simple piece of design is a one-man wooden-framed fold-up fishing hut with chicken wire-mesh walls that can be packed with ice by the user to keep out the wind while letting in light.
Unavailability is designed by Gartnerfulgen Arkitekter for maximum portability. The idea is, should you wish to change fishing hotspot, you simply shake out the ice, fold the thing up and you're on your way. Quite how simple constructing the ice-walls will prove to be is quite another matter, however.
A single panel of the structure made from birch veneer functions as a door, and reveals a wooden-slatted base which, with the addition of a rug actually looks rather cosy. Judging by the pictures of the structure being assembled, it looks as if the slats have to be loosely arranged every time.
As Treehugger notes, this thing is really only good for use during winter (ice being relatively hard to come by at other times of year), but as an artisanal concept only, practicalities are hardly a foremost priorities.
Yet, ice as a building material is always of interest, and it's, er, warming to see an application that plays to the strengths of ice's impermanence. Unlike the permanent ice hotels that have cropped up in recent years, Unavailability has something of the igloo about it.
Sources: Gartnerfulgen Arkitekter, Treehugger
