The Hole Idea
Winnipeg
The portable hole – first developed by Prof. Calvin Q. Calculus in the 1955 Looney Tunes animation, “The Hole Thing” and later sold by the Acme Company – has a troubled history. Almost right from inception, the ominous, mobile void was put to use for evil purposes – first as an effective enabler for a vicious crime spree and later as a means to capture the American desert fowl Geococcyx californianus or as it is commonly known as, “the Roadrunner”. It is important to note that the later use always ended up with the direct opposite result than that of the intended; which is likely why the portable hole is no longer commercially available.
This proposal takes as a starting point the portable hole, and by utilizing modern paint technologies, adds color. The resultant 1’-6” diameter holes – which can be located anywhere along the snowy banks of the Assiniboine or Red River – are resistant to being co-opted by evil forces (including the greyness of soul-sucking foul weather) due to the sheer cheeriness of the palette of introduced color. Further, a large, bright and yellow 10’ diameter hole is horizontally located in a 30’ long snow drift and provides skaters a warm and sheltering burrow in the snowy river bank.
Credits
Client: The Forks Renewal Corporation
Weiss Architecture and Urbanism Limited
Kevin Weiss, Sophie Tremblay, Mina Hanna
Structural Engineer:
Blackwell – David Bowick
Technical Adviser:
Punch Clock Metal Works
Photography: Leif Norman
Fabricator: Canada Culvert
