Ottawa’s First Winter Design Festival

A Winter Design Festival Showcasing Canadian Talent

Ottawa’s first Winter Design Festival was launched February 1st during Winterlude festivities. It took place at Aberdeen Square in the newly renovated Lansdowne Park. The festival was meant to showcase Canadian design and art community. It opened its doors to new trends. It invited the Ottawa public to interact with innovative design and architecture.

Components of the Festival

The festival comprises of three parts. Some of the events and installations were open to the public to interact with and admire.

Winter Design Festival Design & Build Competition

The competition brought the design community out in the snow to create an interactive habitat fit for Ottawa’s blustery winters.

The structure Loopdrop has been chosen by a panel of design industry experts and community activist. The panel’s background came from the educational and professional stream of Architecture and Urban Planning. Visitors were invited to see the structure onsite.

The Loopdrop and its Architect

The winner of the Winter Design Festival Design & Build Competition winner was Montreal licensed architect Sylvain Bilodeau.

Building on his experience in institutional projects, residential projects, and architectural competitions, Sylvain Bilodeau has a reputation of projects comprised of rigor, integrity, and personality.

Although still young, Bilodeau’s Montreal practice – Architecturama – has already gained attention through major design venues. He’s even caught the attention of the International Symposium of Contemporary Art. It was there that his firm won an award in the Best of Canada Design Competition. He has also recently completed an architectural research residency in France.

Winter Design Festival & Build competition Loopdrop structure elevation

His competition winning submission Loopdrop can be described as participatory, inviting interaction from both the public and the chilly winter weather. Instead of blocking ice-cold winds, Loopdrop will collaborate with the natural elements.

“Canadian winters should be celebrated” said Bilodeau. “What better way to do so than through creative design?”

Winter Design Festival & Build competition Loopdrop structure

Winter Design Festival Agora

The Agora was set in the Horticulture Building. It took the form of a studio event meant to showcase industry ready product in an interactive and entertaining setting. The festival showcased designs from Canadian fashion houses Anomal Couture and Helmer. The show was in combination with live art and music. Fernandino’s Salon got all the models runway ready with hair and make-up.

Winter Design Festival Oratory

This conference component of the festival was an outlet for the design industry to present industry-ready solutions. Special guests and speakers included designer of Ottawa’s Horticulture Building Crystal Bossio and renowned Canadian War Museum architect Raymond Moriyama. They discussed designing for the winter. They indulged industry participants who are eager to learn how to adapt to their environments from an artistic perspective.

The Winter Design Festival was presented in partnership with the City of Ottawa with funding provided by the Government of Ontario.

The Wardrobe Stylist