SweaterLodge: Vast, Resourceful, Fun and Uniquely Canadian

SweaterLodge has been chosen through a national juried competition to represent Canada at the 2006 Venice Biennale of Architecture. It is a multi-media exhibit reflective of Canada’s vast wilderness, our resourcefulness, dedication to sustainable living and our collective enjoyment of outdoor recreation.

The main element of SweaterLodge is a giant polar fleece sweater. Offering visitors a warm welcome, this common article of Canadian street wear is amplified into an iconic architectural environment, reflecting how outdoor leisure lifestyle intersects with Vancouver urban living. The polar fleece fabric is made from recycled plastic drink containers. Suspended within the Canadian pavilion, the inhabited garment becomes a lodge, a voluminous glowing orange interior space, evoking fire light and the brilliance of out-in-the-woods safety wear.

As visitors enter the sweater, they encounter a series of digital films showing vignettes about a city that intertwines wilderness and modern urban life. Each projection is activated by a viewer pedaling a stationary bicycle: the faster they pedal, the faster the film plays.

The shipping crates used to transport the exhibition will transform to become bicycle display mounts as SweaterLodge envisions a future where daily objects become multifunctional: sweater becomes lodge, crates become displays and bicycles become projectors.

After the exhibition, the 400 square meter sweater will return to Canada for a public “sew-in” event where it will be recycled into hats, scarves and mitts for charitable giving.